Punctuation Participation

This sentence caught our interest:

Iran is back to cooperating with the IAEA -- but only one comma or semicolon at a time. (See the story)

Punctuation is small, indeed. But this doesn't mean its power is minute. Entire court cases have rested on the semicolon (see the Texas semicolon court, or more recently the San Francisco gay-marriage decision that hinged on the same little wink). Likewise, misplaced commas have cost millions in contract disputes.

There's also that famous sentence that can be transformed through punctuation:

• Woman without her man is nothing
• Woman: without her, man is nothing.

Punctuation deserves more respect. Or at the very least, its own T-shirt.