I have talked and thought a lot about how punctuation impacts meaning. Swap out a period for a question mark or an exclamation point in anything you say, and imagine how the person you’re speaking to might change their response. I love you? Let’s go golfing! Punctuation is the spice of communication; it has the power to accentuate meaning and bring both clarity and hope.
I love Simryn Gill’s Vegetation series (1999), in which people are portrayed in banal circumstances. The difference, or twist, is that their heads are covered by local flora. Absent their facial expressions, we have no idea what they’re thinking! Sensitivity to the subtleties of punctuation and social cues is essential to meaningful relationships.
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