Putting a Point on It by S. M. Hutchens

Quodlibet

Putting a Point on It

by S. M. Hutchens

Today I ungratefully received a communication completely, and insolently, I think, devoid of punctuation, which inspired me to observe that punctuation, once invented, becomes necessary to express the movements of the mind and voice it was meant to reflect. People who think without punctuation are insane; those who speak without it, unintelligible. Those who write without it one suspects of being cockroaches hopping about on typewriter keys—or texters, their modern equivalents. (So many of the latter have given their lives for their craft in traffic that a certain air of nobility hangs about it.)

This rant accomplished, I admit that former Touchstone editor David Mills once sent me a large box of fresh, unused periods and paragraph breaks—which I gladly accepted, and prize so highly that it has lasted me for years.

S. M. Hutchens is a senior editor and longtime writer for Touchstone.

subscription options

Order
Print/Online
Subscription

Get six issues (one year) of Touchstone PLUS full online access including pdf downloads for only $39.95. That's only $3.34 per month!

Order
Online Only
Subscription

Get a one-year full-access subscription to the Touchstone online archives for only $19.95. That's only $1.66 per month!

bulk subscriptions

Order Touchstone subscriptions in bulk and save $10 per sub! Each subscription includes 6 issues of Touchstone plus full online access to touchstonemag.com—including archives, videos, and pdf downloads of recent issues for only $29.95 each! Great for churches or study groups.

Transactions will be processed on a secure server.


more from the online archives

20.4—May 2007

Children of the Reformation

A Short & Surprising History of Protestantism & Contraception by Allan C. Carlson

31.5—September/October 2018

Taking Liberties

The Secular State Without the Decalogue by James M. Kushiner

31.6—November/December 2018

Alias Santa Claus

on Childhood Encounters with a Christmas Icon by Rebecca Sicree

calling all readers

Please Donate

"There are magazines worth reading but few worth saving . . . Touchstone is just such a magazine."
—Alice von Hildebrand

"Here we do not concede one square millimeter of territory to falsehood, folly, contemporary sentimentality, or fashion. We speak the truth, and let God be our judge. . . . Touchstone is the one committedly Christian conservative journal."
—Anthony Esolen, Touchstone senior editor

Support Touchstone

00