Happy Birthday to You

Anyone who is familiar with Lynne Truss's book on punctuation will know the cover depicts a panda on a ladder monkeying around with the placement of a comma. Further, the cover also depicts the panda walking away holding a handgun, presumably after firing it.

The cover illustrates the importance of the placement of a comma. If it's after the word "eats," then the panda should be sought for firing a weapon in a restaurant after eating something, and walking away without paying the bill—leaves.

If there is no comma, well it's a different story. The panda is only guilty of being their natural vegetarian self by eating some shoots (presumably bamboo) and ambling off after being satisfied. No firearm involved, and no pursuit by the authorities. Or...

The panda eats shoots (presumably bamboo) AND leaves, the plural of the word "leaf." A two-course vegetarian intake. No indication if they stay in one place after doing this, and certainly no use of a firearm. The English language can be vague, with its meaning driven by punctuation.

Imagine a panda doing some serious time in an animal jail because someone used a comma when they didn't need one. That wouldn't be fair, would it? Commas count. Lynne Truss's point.

I suspect the panda on the cover of Lynne's book is not the famous Tian Tian who lives in the Smithsonian National Zoo in Washington, D.C. But it could be. They tend to lookalike.

Tian Tian just turned 21, thus making their consumption of alcohol legal. Now the joke can be a panda walks into a bar, orders a beer, drinks, eats(,) shoots and leaves.

And maybe drives away under the influence. Alert the authorities.

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