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-->'''Katrina''': The man was a pedophile/murderer.
'''Tom:''' Well, if you gotta murder ''somebody''...\\
'''Katrina:''' No Tom, not a pedophile ''dash'' murderer. A pedophile ''slash'' murderer!\\
'''Tom:''' Oh no! The way you said "slash" was very scary!
->-- ''WesternAnimatiob/BoJackHorseman'', "lovin that cali lifestyle!"
'''Tom:''' Well, if you gotta murder ''somebody''...\\
'''Katrina:''' No Tom, not a pedophile ''dash'' murderer. A pedophile ''slash'' murderer!\\
'''Tom:''' Oh no! The way you said "slash" was very scary!
->-- ''WesternAnimatiob/BoJackHorseman'', "lovin that cali lifestyle!"
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* ''WesternAnimation/BoJackHorseman'': In "lovin that cali lifestyle!!", gubernatorial candidate Woodchuck-Coodchuck Berkowitz runs into a scandal when he receives a hand transplant from a pedophile/murderer (as in, [[MurderersAreRapists a pedophile and a murderer]]). When learning about the news, Tom Jumbo-Grumbo assumes the hand donor was a pedophile-murderer (as in, [[PaedoHunt someone who kills pedophiles]]).
-->'''Tom:''' Well, if you gotta murder ''[[AssholeVictim somebody]]''...\\
'''Katrina:''' No Tom, not a pedophile ''dash'' murderer. A pedophile ''slash'' murderer!\\
'''Tom:''' Oh no! The way you said "slash" was very scary!
-->'''Tom:''' Well, if you gotta murder ''[[AssholeVictim somebody]]''...\\
'''Katrina:''' No Tom, not a pedophile ''dash'' murderer. A pedophile ''slash'' murderer!\\
'''Tom:''' Oh no! The way you said "slash" was very scary!
to:
* ''WesternAnimation/BoJackHorseman'': In "lovin that cali lifestyle!!", gubernatorial candidate Woodchuck-Coodchuck Berkowitz runs into a scandal when he receives a hand transplant from a pedophile/murderer (as in, [[MurderersAreRapists a pedophile and a murderer]]). When learning about the news, Tom Jumbo-Grumbo assumes the hand donor was a pedophile-murderer (as in, [[PaedoHunt someone who kills pedophiles]]).
-->'''Tom:''' Well, if you gotta murder ''[[AssholeVictim somebody]]''...\\
'''Katrina:''' No Tom, not a pedophile ''dash'' murderer. A pedophile ''slash'' murderer!\\
'''Tom:''' Oh no! The way you said "slash" was very scary!pedophiles]]), until Katrina aggressively corrects him.
-->'''Tom:''' Well, if you gotta murder ''[[AssholeVictim somebody]]''...\\
'''Katrina:''' No Tom, not a pedophile ''dash'' murderer. A pedophile ''slash'' murderer!\\
'''Tom:''' Oh no! The way you said "slash" was very scary!
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* At the climax of the 1969 Soviet animated children's film ''WesternAnimation/InTheCountryOfUnlearnedLessons'', the protagonist is faced with a sentence that roughly translates as "pardon impossible to execute", with his fate depending on the proper comma placement: "pardon impossible, to execute" would get his head chopped off, while "pardon, impossible to execute" would return him home unharmed. The sentence is actually a common saying in Russia, going back to the time of Peter The Great, according to the [[https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9A%D0%B0%D0%B7%D0%BD%D0%B8%D1%82%D1%8C_%D0%BD%D0%B5%D0%BB%D1%8C%D0%B7%D1%8F_%D0%BF%D0%BE%D0%BC%D0%B8%D0%BB%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B0%D1%82%D1%8C Russian Wikipedia article about it]].
to:
* At the climax of the 1969 Soviet animated children's film ''WesternAnimation/InTheCountryOfUnlearnedLessons'', the protagonist is faced with a sentence that roughly translates as "pardon impossible to execute", with his fate depending on the proper comma placement: "pardon impossible, to execute" would get his head chopped off, while "pardon, impossible to execute" would return him home unharmed. The sentence is actually a common saying in Russia, going back to the time of Peter The Great, according to the [[https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9A%D0%B0%D0%B7%D0%BD%D0%B8%D1%82%D1%8C_%D0%BD%D0%B5%D0%BB%D1%8C%D0%B7%D1%8F_%D0%BF%D0%BE%D0%BC%D0%B8%D0%BB%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B0%D1%82%D1%8C Russian Wikipedia article about it]].it.]]
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* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' Brian and Stewie go scuba diving, conversing with each other by writing on white boards with markers. At one point, after Brian corrects an error Stewie made, Stewie writes "Don't be a grammar shark." This confuses Brian, until he is attacked by a shark, causing Stewie to add the punctuation to his sentence, so it now reads "Don't be a grammar-- Shark!"
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* In a bit of ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' fan art by Jargon Scott, [[https://www.derpibooru.org/images/2369475 Trixie wears a t-shirt with the message "NO FAT CHICKS"]]. In the followup picture, Twilight objects to the shirt and tells Trixie to change it--and Trixie complies by adding a comma and exclamation mark: [[[[https://www.derpibooru.org/images/2369490 "NO, FAT CHICKS!"]]
to:
* In a bit of ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' fan art by Jargon Scott, [[https://www.derpibooru.org/images/2369475 Trixie wears a t-shirt with the message "NO FAT CHICKS"]]. In the followup picture, Twilight objects to the shirt and tells Trixie to change it--and Trixie complies by adding a comma and exclamation mark: [[[[https://www.[[https://www.derpibooru.org/images/2369490 "NO, FAT CHICKS!"]]
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* In a bit of ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' fan art by Jargon Scott, [[https://www.derpibooru.org/images/2369475 Trixie wears a t-shirt with the message "NO FAT CHICKS"]]. [[https://www.derpibooru.org/images/2369490 In the followup picture]], Twilight objects to the shirt and tells Trixie to change it--and Trixie complies by adding a comma and exclamation mark: "NO, FAT CHICKS!"
to:
* In a bit of ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' fan art by Jargon Scott, [[https://www.derpibooru.org/images/2369475 Trixie wears a t-shirt with the message "NO FAT CHICKS"]]. [[https://www.In the followup picture, Twilight objects to the shirt and tells Trixie to change it--and Trixie complies by adding a comma and exclamation mark: [[[[https://www.derpibooru.org/images/2369490 In the followup picture]], Twilight objects to the shirt and tells Trixie to change it--and Trixie complies by adding a comma and exclamation mark: "NO, FAT CHICKS!"CHICKS!"]]
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* Newspaper headlines typically contain no punctuation, hence you sometimes get absurdities like [[WhatTheHellHero SQUAD HELPS DOG BITE VICTIM]]
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* Newspaper headlines typically contain no punctuation, hence you sometimes get absurdities like [[WhatTheHellHero SQUAD HELPS DOG BITE VICTIM]]VICTIM]]. These are sometimes referred to as [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syntactic_ambiguity#In_headlines "crash blossoms,"]] after the syntactically confusing headline "Violinist Linked To JAL Crash Blossoms."
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** In "The Day The Violence Died", Bart objects to AmoralAttorney Lionel Hutz's request for money up front, because his card says "Works on Contingency No Money Down." Hutz hastily claims that it is just a typo and then "corrects" the card by adding punctuation with a sharpie so it reads "Works on Contingency'''?''' No''',''' Money Down'''!'''"
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** In "The Day The Violence Died", Bart objects to AmoralAttorney Lionel Hutz's request for money up front, because his card says "Works on Contingency -- No Money Down." Hutz hastily claims that it is just a typo and then "corrects" the card by adding punctuation with a sharpie so it reads "Works on Contingency'''?''' -- No''',''' Money Down'''!'''"
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Changed line(s) 109 (click to see context) from:
** In "The Day The Violence Died", Bart objects to AmoralAttorney Lionel Hutz's request for money up front, because his card says "Works on Contingency No Money Down." Hutz corrects the card by adding punctuation so it reads "Works on Contingency? No, Money Down!"
to:
** In "The Day The Violence Died", Bart objects to AmoralAttorney Lionel Hutz's request for money up front, because his card says "Works on Contingency No Money Down." Hutz corrects hastily claims that it is just a typo and then "corrects" the card by adding punctuation with a sharpie so it reads "Works on Contingency? No, Contingency'''?''' No''',''' Money Down!"Down'''!'''"
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Changed line(s) 108 (click to see context) from:
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': In "The Day The Violence Died", Bart objects to AmoralAttorney Lionel Hutz's request for money up front, because his card says "Works on Contingency No Money Down." Hutz corrects the card by adding punctuation so it reads "Works on Contingency? No, Money Down!"
to:
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'':
** In "The Day The Violence Died", Bart objects to AmoralAttorney Lionel Hutz's request for money up front, because his card says "Works on Contingency No Money Down." Hutz corrects the card by adding punctuation so it reads "Works on Contingency? No, MoneyDown!"Down!"
** In "Sweets and Sour Marge", Marge was shopping at the Kwik-E-Mart when she finds a package of what she assumes contains sugar-free donuts, overlooking the comma in the writing on the package (which says "Sugar, Free Donuts") until Apu points it out.
** In "The Day The Violence Died", Bart objects to AmoralAttorney Lionel Hutz's request for money up front, because his card says "Works on Contingency No Money Down." Hutz corrects the card by adding punctuation so it reads "Works on Contingency? No, Money
** In "Sweets and Sour Marge", Marge was shopping at the Kwik-E-Mart when she finds a package of what she assumes contains sugar-free donuts, overlooking the comma in the writing on the package (which says "Sugar, Free Donuts") until Apu points it out.
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[[folder:Web Video]]
* ''WebVideo/CriticalRole'': Inverted in Campaign 2, where a lack of punctuation changes the meaning. Sam plays a goblin named Nott the Brave. As Nott explains to another character, who assumed she was courageous, "There's no comma. I'm [[PunnyName not the brave]]."
[[/folder]]
* ''WebVideo/CriticalRole'': Inverted in Campaign 2, where a lack of punctuation changes the meaning. Sam plays a goblin named Nott the Brave. As Nott explains to another character, who assumed she was courageous, "There's no comma. I'm [[PunnyName not the brave]]."
[[/folder]]
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Changed line(s) 109 (click to see context) from:
* In 2018, a Federal Court sided with three drivers from a dairy in Maine in their lawsuit for overtime pay. Maine law made "The canning, processing, preserving, freezing, drying, marketing, storing, packing for shipment or distribution of: (1) Agricultural produce; (2) Meat and fish products; and (3) Perishable foods." exempt from overtime. [[https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/02/08/584391391/maine-dairy-drivers-settle-overtime-case-that-hinged-on-an-absent-comma As NPR points out]] the problem was with ''"packing for shipment '''or''' distribution of"'' - is this one activity or two that are barred from overtime? The comma cost the dairy '''$50,000''' for each drive in back overtime pay.
to:
* In 2018, a Federal Court sided with three drivers from a dairy in Maine in their lawsuit for overtime pay. Maine law made "The canning, processing, preserving, freezing, drying, marketing, storing, packing for shipment or distribution of: (1) Agricultural produce; (2) Meat and fish products; and (3) Perishable foods." exempt from overtime. [[https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/02/08/584391391/maine-dairy-drivers-settle-overtime-case-that-hinged-on-an-absent-comma As NPR points out]] the problem was with ''"packing for shipment '''or''' distribution of"'' - is this one activity or two that are barred from overtime? The comma cost the dairy '''$50,000''' for each drive driver in back overtime pay.
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* Czarina Maria Fyodorovna saved a man from life in prison by transposing a single comma in a warrant signed by her husband, Alexander III, which exiled a criminal to imprisonment and death in Siberia. Firmly believing in the man's innocence and with full access to the Czar's office, she took action. On the bottom of the warrant the Czar had written: "Pardon impossible, to be sent to Siberia." The Czarina changed the punctuation so that her husband's instructions read: "Pardon, impossible to be sent to Siberia." The man was set free.
to:
* Czarina Maria Fyodorovna saved a man from life in prison by transposing a single comma in a warrant signed by her husband, Alexander III, which exiled a criminal to imprisonment and death in Siberia. Firmly believing in the man's innocence and with full access to the Czar's office, she took action. On the bottom of the warrant warrant, the Czar had written: "Pardon impossible, to be sent to Siberia." The Czarina changed the punctuation so that her husband's instructions read: "Pardon, impossible to be sent to Siberia." The man was set free.
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* At the climax of the 1969 Soviet animated children's film ''In the Country of Unlearned Lessons'', the protagonist is faced with a sentence that roughly translates as "pardon impossible to execute", with his fate depending on the proper comma placement: "pardon impossible, to execute" would get his head chopped off, while "pardon, impossible to execute" would return him home unharmed. The sentence is actually a common saying in Russia, going back to the time of Peter The Great, according to the [[https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9A%D0%B0%D0%B7%D0%BD%D0%B8%D1%82%D1%8C_%D0%BD%D0%B5%D0%BB%D1%8C%D0%B7%D1%8F_%D0%BF%D0%BE%D0%BC%D0%B8%D0%BB%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B0%D1%82%D1%8C Russian Wikipedia article about it]].
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* At the climax of the 1969 Soviet animated children's film ''In the Country of Unlearned Lessons'', ''WesternAnimation/InTheCountryOfUnlearnedLessons'', the protagonist is faced with a sentence that roughly translates as "pardon impossible to execute", with his fate depending on the proper comma placement: "pardon impossible, to execute" would get his head chopped off, while "pardon, impossible to execute" would return him home unharmed. The sentence is actually a common saying in Russia, going back to the time of Peter The Great, according to the [[https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9A%D0%B0%D0%B7%D0%BD%D0%B8%D1%82%D1%8C_%D0%BD%D0%B5%D0%BB%D1%8C%D0%B7%D1%8F_%D0%BF%D0%BE%D0%BC%D0%B8%D0%BB%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B0%D1%82%D1%8C Russian Wikipedia article about it]].
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* Newspaper headlines typically contain no punctuation, hence you sometimes get absurdities like [[WhatTheHellHero SQUAD HELPS DOG BITE VICTIM]]
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* ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'': In the episode ''[[Recap/MysteryScienceTheater3000S09E12TheScreamingSkull The Screaming Skull]]'', after several jokes pointing out that [[ScreamingWoman the movie's heroine seems to do more screaming]] than the eponymous skull, Mike Nelson wonders if the movie was accidentally mistitled:
-->'''Mike:''' I think the title was supposed to be ''Screaming; Skull''.
-->'''Mike:''' I think the title was supposed to be ''Screaming; Skull''.
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* It's probably an [[UrbanLegends urban legend,]] but there is a story of a woman who wants a really expensive diamond. She sends a telegram to her husband telling him the price and asking if she can buy it. He sends a telegram back reading "No price too high" (note missing comma). She takes it to mean nothing would be too expensive and buys the diamond.
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%%
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* It's probably an [[UrbanLegends urban legend,]] but there is a story of a woman who wants a really expensive diamond. She sends a telegram to her husband telling him the price and asking if she can buy it. He sends a telegram back reading "No price too high" (note missing comma). She takes it to mean nothing would be too expensive and buys the diamond.
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Changed line(s) 98 (click to see context) from:
-->'''Tom:''' Well, if you're gonna murder ''[[AssholeVictim somebody]]''...\\
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-->'''Tom:''' Well, if you're gonna you gotta murder ''[[AssholeVictim somebody]]''...\\
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Changed line(s) 98 (click to see context) from:
-->'''Tom:''' Well, if you're gonna murder ''somebody''...\\
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-->'''Tom:''' Well, if you're gonna murder ''somebody''...''[[AssholeVictim somebody]]''...\\
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* ''WesternAnimation/BoJackHorseman'': In "lovin that cali lifestyle!!", gubernatorial candidate Woodchuck-Coodchuck Berkowitz runs into a scandal when he receives a hand transplant from a pedophile/murderer (as in, [[MurderersAreRapists a pedophile and a murderer]]). When learning about the news, Tom Jumbo-Grumbo assumes the hand donor was a pedophile-murderer (as in, [[PaedoHunt someone who kills pedophiles]]).
-->'''Tom:''' Well, if you're gonna murder ''somebody''...\\
'''Katrina:''' No Tom, not a pedophile ''dash'' murderer. A pedophile ''slash'' murderer!\\
'''Tom:''' Oh no! The way you said "slash" was very scary!
-->'''Tom:''' Well, if you're gonna murder ''somebody''...\\
'''Katrina:''' No Tom, not a pedophile ''dash'' murderer. A pedophile ''slash'' murderer!\\
'''Tom:''' Oh no! The way you said "slash" was very scary!
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* ''{{Website/Snopes}}'' examines the urban legend that [[https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/no-price-too-high/ a man sued the telegraph company (and won) after they omitted a single comma from his message]]. According to the story, his wife was on vacation and an expensive piece of jewelry caught her eye, so she sent a message asking if she could buy it. The man replied "No, price too high", but the telegraph operator instead sent the message "No price too high."
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* ''Series/{{The Flash|2014}}'': When Savitar says "I am the future, Flash." everyone thinks it's an IAmTheNoun BadassBoast. He's actually telling them his identity "I am the future-Flash." As in, he's the Flash from the future.
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Changed line(s) 100 (click to see context) from:
* In 2018, a Federal Court sided with three drivers from a dairy in Maine in their lawsuit for overtime pay. Maine law made "The canning, processing, preserving, freezing, drying, marketing, storing, packing for shipment or distribution of: (1) Agricultural produce; (2) Meat and fish products; and (3) Perishable foods." exempt from overtime. [[https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/02/08/584391391/maine-dairy-drivers-settle-overtime-case-that-hinged-on-an-absent-comma As NPR points out]] the problem was with ''"packing for shipment '''or''' distribution of"'' - is this one activity or two that are barred from overtime? The comma the dairy '''$50,000''' for each drive in back overtime pay.
to:
* In 2018, a Federal Court sided with three drivers from a dairy in Maine in their lawsuit for overtime pay. Maine law made "The canning, processing, preserving, freezing, drying, marketing, storing, packing for shipment or distribution of: (1) Agricultural produce; (2) Meat and fish products; and (3) Perishable foods." exempt from overtime. [[https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/02/08/584391391/maine-dairy-drivers-settle-overtime-case-that-hinged-on-an-absent-comma As NPR points out]] the problem was with ''"packing for shipment '''or''' distribution of"'' - is this one activity or two that are barred from overtime? The comma cost the dairy '''$50,000''' for each drive in back overtime pay.
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Removed 2nd amendment per rule of cautious editing judgement - put in a non-controversial example
Changed line(s) 100 (click to see context) from:
* A few oddly placed commas have put the meaning of the U.S. Constitution's Second Amendment into question. "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."
to:
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Changed line(s) 6,7 (click to see context) from:
Someone who adds or changes existing writing on purpose stands to benefit from the modification, for example, by making a sign mean the complete opposite thing by adding a few marks. It probably won't stand up as a defense if they get in trouble, though.
to:
Someone who adds might add or changes change existing writing on purpose stands if they stand to benefit from the modification, modification: for example, by making a sign mean the complete opposite thing by adding a few marks. It probably won't stand up as a defense if they get in trouble, though.
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* ''Series/ParksAndRecreation'': Leslie buys stickers saying "Don't" and "?" to change the "Recall Leslie Knope" signs into "Recall Leslie Knope? Don't," but realizes she can just put the "Don't" in front of the sign. April takes the question mark stickers so she can put them on the end of "STOP" signs, causing Leslie to shout, "April, no!"
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Changed line(s) 100 (click to see context) from:
* In 2006, the "[[https://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/the-2-million-comma/article18169907/ $2-million dollar comma]]" allowed Alliant Inc. to end a contract with Rogers Communications early and surprise them with a rate hike. The court agreed that the second comma allowed the contract to be ended during its initial term, which Rogers hadn't intended:
to:
* In 2006, the "[[https://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/the-2-million-comma/article18169907/ $2-million dollar comma]]" allowed Alliant Inc. to end a contract with Rogers Communications early and surprise them with a rate hike. The court agreed that the second comma allowed the contract to be ended during its initial term, which Rogers hadn't intended:
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It's hard to distinguish a bold comma, but I might as well bold it just in case.
Changed line(s) 100,101 (click to see context) from:
* In 2006, the "[[https://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/the-2-million-comma/article18169907/ $2-million dollar comma]]" allowed Alliant Inc. to end a contract with Rogers Communications early and surprise them with a rate hike. The court agreed that the extra comma allowed the contract to be ended during its initial term, which Rogers hadn't intended:
-->[The agreement] shall continue in force for a period of five years from the date it is made, and thereafter for successive five-year terms, unless and until terminated by one year prior notice in writing by either party.
-->[The agreement] shall continue in force for a period of five years from the date it is made, and thereafter for successive five-year terms, unless and until terminated by one year prior notice in writing by either party.
to:
* In 2006, the "[[https://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/the-2-million-comma/article18169907/ $2-million dollar comma]]" allowed Alliant Inc. to end a contract with Rogers Communications early and surprise them with a rate hike. The court agreed that the extra second comma allowed the contract to be ended during its initial term, which Rogers hadn't intended:
-->[The agreement] shall continue in force for a period of five years from the date it is made, and thereafter for successive five-yearterms, terms''',''' unless and until terminated by one year prior notice in writing by either party.
-->[The agreement] shall continue in force for a period of five years from the date it is made, and thereafter for successive five-year
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* In Red Square, 1929, UsefulNotes/JosefStalin is addressing a rally. He produces a telegram he claims to have received from his exiled foe, UsefulNotes/LeonTrotsky, and reads it aloud:
-->You were right and I was wrong\\
You are the true heir of [[UsefulNotes/VladimirLenin Lenin]]\\
I should apologize
The crowd dutifully cheers, except for an elderly Jewish man in the front row, who catches Stalin's attention and says that he read the telegram without the right "feeling." Amused, Stalin invites the man up to the podium so he can read it the way he sees fit. The man takes the telegram and reads:
-->''You'' were ''right'' and ''I'' was ''wrong''?! ''You'' are the true heir of Lenin?! ''I'' should apologize?!
* A class evenly split between men and women are given a sentence and told to punctuated it how they want. The sentence is, "A woman without her man is nothing". After some debate, the men give the following: "A woman, without her man, is nothing." The women then issue a rebuttal. "A woman: without her, man is nothing."
-->You were right and I was wrong\\
You are the true heir of [[UsefulNotes/VladimirLenin Lenin]]\\
I should apologize
The crowd dutifully cheers, except for an elderly Jewish man in the front row, who catches Stalin's attention and says that he read the telegram without the right "feeling." Amused, Stalin invites the man up to the podium so he can read it the way he sees fit. The man takes the telegram and reads:
-->''You'' were ''right'' and ''I'' was ''wrong''?! ''You'' are the true heir of Lenin?! ''I'' should apologize?!
* A class evenly split between men and women are given a sentence and told to punctuated it how they want. The sentence is, "A woman without her man is nothing". After some debate, the men give the following: "A woman, without her man, is nothing." The women then issue a rebuttal. "A woman: without her, man is nothing."
to:
* In Red Square, 1929, UsefulNotes/JosefStalin is addressing a rally. He produces a telegram he claims to have received from his exiled foe, UsefulNotes/LeonTrotsky, and reads it aloud:
-->Youaloud: "You were right and I was wrong\\
wrong. You are the true heir of [[UsefulNotes/VladimirLenin Lenin]]\\
Lenin]]. I should apologize
apologize." The crowd dutifully cheers, except for an elderly Jewish man in the front row, who catches Stalin's attention and says that he read the telegram without the right "feeling." Amused, Stalin invites the man up to the podium so he can read it the way he sees fit. The man takes the telegram and reads:
-->''You''reads: "''You'' were ''right'' and ''I'' was ''wrong''?! ''You'' are the true heir of Lenin?! ''I'' should apologize?!
apologize?!"
* A class evenly split between men and women are given a sentence and told topunctuated punctuate it how they want. The sentence is, "A woman without her man is nothing". After some debate, the men give the following: "A woman, without her man, is nothing." The women then issue a rebuttal. "A woman: without her, man is nothing."
-->You
-->''You''
* A class evenly split between men and women are given a sentence and told to
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* A class evenly split between men and women are given a sentence and told to punctuated it how they want. The sentence is, "A woman without her man is nothing". After some debate, the men give the following: "A woman, without her man, is nothing." The women then issue a rebuttal. "A woman: without her, man is nothing."
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[[folder:Jokes]]
* In Red Square, 1929, UsefulNotes/JosefStalin is addressing a rally. He produces a telegram he claims to have received from his exiled foe, UsefulNotes/LeonTrotsky, and reads it aloud:
-->You were right and I was wrong\\
You are the true heir of [[UsefulNotes/VladimirLenin Lenin]]\\
I should apologize
The crowd dutifully cheers, except for an elderly Jewish man in the front row, who catches Stalin's attention and says that he read the telegram without the right "feeling." Amused, Stalin invites the man up to the podium so he can read it the way he sees fit. The man takes the telegram and reads:
-->''You'' were ''right'' and ''I'' was ''wrong''?! ''You'' are the true heir of Lenin?! ''I'' should apologize?!
[[/folder]]
* In Red Square, 1929, UsefulNotes/JosefStalin is addressing a rally. He produces a telegram he claims to have received from his exiled foe, UsefulNotes/LeonTrotsky, and reads it aloud:
-->You were right and I was wrong\\
You are the true heir of [[UsefulNotes/VladimirLenin Lenin]]\\
I should apologize
The crowd dutifully cheers, except for an elderly Jewish man in the front row, who catches Stalin's attention and says that he read the telegram without the right "feeling." Amused, Stalin invites the man up to the podium so he can read it the way he sees fit. The man takes the telegram and reads:
-->''You'' were ''right'' and ''I'' was ''wrong''?! ''You'' are the true heir of Lenin?! ''I'' should apologize?!
[[/folder]]
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
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Added DiffLines:
[[quoteright:350:[[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lionel_hutz_card_8.jpeg]]]]
Two (or more) sentences are identical in word choice and order, but placement of punctuation changes their meaning. Observe the difference between "Execute not; liberate" and "Execute, not liberate" -- one says "don't kill" and the other says "kill". A common grammar joke refers to a comma being the difference between inviting your grandmother to dinner ("Let's eat, Grandma!") versus telling your family to cannibalize her ("let's eat Grandma!").
Someone who adds or changes existing writing on purpose stands to benefit from the modification, for example, by making a sign mean the complete opposite thing by adding a few marks. It probably won't stand up as a defense if they get in trouble, though.
Spoken, this is often AmbiguousSyntax. The classic "man-eating plant/man eating plant" isn't so ambiguous when shown in written form, assuming the writer knows how to use a hyphen.
This is often an example of PoorCommunicationKills. Might be caused by WantonCrueltyToTheCommonComma if someone miswrites or miscopies a sentence. Unnecessary quotation marks will look like ScareQuotes.
This trope is for examples where the meaning of a statement is changed by adding, erasing, or moving punctuation (but the words remain the same), and it has to occur within the work. This trope is not about the audience pointing out grammatical errors. Examples where the ambiguity is not resolved goes under AmbiguousSyntax.
----
!!Examples
[[foldercontrol]]
[[folder:Fan Works]]
* In a bit of ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' fan art by Jargon Scott, [[https://www.derpibooru.org/images/2369475 Trixie wears a t-shirt with the message "NO FAT CHICKS"]]. [[https://www.derpibooru.org/images/2369490 In the followup picture]], Twilight objects to the shirt and tells Trixie to change it--and Trixie complies by adding a comma and exclamation mark: "NO, FAT CHICKS!"
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Film--Animated]]
* At the climax of the 1969 Soviet animated children's film ''In the Country of Unlearned Lessons'', the protagonist is faced with a sentence that roughly translates as "pardon impossible to execute", with his fate depending on the proper comma placement: "pardon impossible, to execute" would get his head chopped off, while "pardon, impossible to execute" would return him home unharmed. The sentence is actually a common saying in Russia, going back to the time of Peter The Great, according to the [[https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9A%D0%B0%D0%B7%D0%BD%D0%B8%D1%82%D1%8C_%D0%BD%D0%B5%D0%BB%D1%8C%D0%B7%D1%8F_%D0%BF%D0%BE%D0%BC%D0%B8%D0%BB%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B0%D1%82%D1%8C Russian Wikipedia article about it]].
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Literature]]
* ''Literature/TenSixtySixAndAllThat'' draws attention to the classic punctuation exercise, "Charles the First walked and talked half an hour after his head was cut off", pointing out how memorable that would be. The sentence should go, "Charles the First walked and talked; half an hour after, his head was cut off."
* In one of the ''Literature/AnneOfGreenGables'' books young Davy misinterprets a phrase in his catechism. "Why should we love God? Because he makes, preserves and redeems us." Davy misses the comma and believes that God makes jam ("Preserves is just a holy way of saying jam"). Anne must point out that the comma is important in the meaning.
* ''Literature/EatsShootsAndLeaves'' teaches the difference between "eats, shoots and leaves" and "eats shoots and leaves". The panda does the latter after either misreading a wildlife guide or reading a wildlife guide that included the comma after "eats".
* There's an illustrated version of ''Eats, Shoots & Leaves'' for children, with the subtitle ''Why, Commas Really Do Make a Difference!'' (a bit of self-demonstration that wasn't present in the earlier edition). Each spread includes two sentences with different meanings due to comma placement. The author, Lynne Truss, also wrote ''The Girl's Like Spaghetti: Why, You Can't Manage Without Apostrophes!'', ''Twenty-Odd Ducks: Why, Every Punctuation Mark Counts!'', and ''Eats MORE, Shoots & Leaves: Why, ALL Punctuation Marks Matter!''
* ''Literature/EncyclopediaBrown'': Tyrone was writing a love letter via dictation over the phone one word at a time, but the punctuation wasn't dictated and turned the message into an insulting letter.
* A passage from the memoir ''[[Literature/LetsPretendThisNeverHappened Let's Pretend This Never Happened]]'' by Jenny Lawson: "Today I interviewed someone who handed me a resume saying that he'd worked at Helping Hand-Jobs. I choked on my own spit and couldn't stop coughing. Later I showed it to the interviewer in the next office. She told me that her brother had worked there once but had quit because all the manual labor had given him heatstroke. After I started coughing again she realized my confusion and explained that it was actually named Helping-Hand Jobs and was a handyman service. Never underestimate the power of punctuation, people."
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* ''Series/ThirtyRock'':
** When Grizz and Dot Com show Tracy his birthday invitations, Tracy notices that they put "Give to charity please! No presents." on the invites. Dot Com says that that's what he told them to put on them. Tracy says that what he meant was "Give to charity? Please, no. Presents!"
** At one point Jack mentions that the first edition of a book he wrote had a typo. He said "By the end of this quarter, we're all gonna be in the black-comma-guys", not "We're all gonna be in the black guys."
* In ''Series/BigTimeRush'', the hotel manager tried to ban children and teens from swimming in the pool by putting up a sign: "Private No Kids Allowed." The protagonists scribbled on the sign with a marker to make it say "Private? No! Kids Allowed!" so they can use the pool.
* An episode of ''Series/CrazyExGirlfriend'' was about a night club either called Spider's or Spiders. Their advertising wasn't consistent with the apostrophe use, causing Rebecca to wonder if it's a spider-infested club or a club owned by a spider. The sign in front of the club says Spider's.
* ''Series/DoctorWho'': There is an asteroid base that is initially assumed to be named "Demon's Run". As it turns out, it's actually "Demons Run". As in [[BewareTheNiceOnes "Demons run when a good man goes to war."]]
* ''Series/TheElectricCompany'' has sketch about the importance of punctuation takes place in a courtroom. The plaintiff is a farmer who is charging a man who fished in his pond with trespassing and fishing in a posted no fishing zone. He holds up a sign that he had posted in the pond that says, "PRIVATE PROPERTY NO FISHING ALLOWED." He says he meant the sign to say "Private Property. No Fishing Allowed." The defendant says that since the sign had no punctuation, he assumed that it meant "Private Property? No, Fishing Allowed."
* In the ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'' episode, "The Scorpion and the Toad", Lily reports two versions of the opinion her art teacher gave her piece. The first, which gave a false impression, was, "Oh, my god. This is your best work. In all my years of teaching, I've never seen anything so... Needless to say, this is art! I can't teach you anything." The second, corrected version was "Oh, my god. This is your best work? In all my years of teaching, I've never seen anything so needless. To say this is... art... I can't teach you anything."
* ''Series/JonathanCreek'': In "The Seer of the Sands", a man named Justin Mallory receives a letter from his girlfriend, who is trying to persuade her estranged husband to agree to a divorce. He reads: "Pressing Rex for a divorce again this morning. He said no, one would have to suffer much longer." This causes him to fly into a rage, get drunk, crash his boat and drown. Had he looked more closely, he would have realized that what he thought was a comma was actually a fly that had landed on the page, and she was actually telling him that Rex had agreed to the split.
* Discussed in ''Series/LastWeekTonightWithJohnOliver'' when covering Chief Justice Roberts' comments on Obamacare, then bringing up a banner used to support the London women's soccer team -- "Come On Our Girls!" -- pointing out that it really could have used a comma.
* In an episode of ''Series/ModernFamily'', Cam and Mitchell received an invitation to a Christmas party from their friend that said, "No presents please." However, Mitchell ran into another friend who tells them that the card should be read, "No presents? Please!", meaning they need to bring presents.
* ''Series/{{Taskmaster}}'': In the final stage task in Series 2, the instructions went: "Put on a pair of food-handling gloves, eat a whole banana, correctly put on a tie, and clap as many times as possible." After Katherine Ryan, the only female contestant that series, objected to "correctly put on a tie", the comma was moved after "correctly" to make: "Put on a pair of food-handling gloves, eat a whole banana correctly, put on a tie, and clap as many times as possible" so she wouldn't be at a disadvantage.
* ''Series/{{Veep}}'': During the Nevada recount in the fifth season, officials review a ballot with no vote but has "Fuck Selina Meyer" written over it. Selina's team is able to have the ballot counted for them by claiming the voter's intent was to say, "Fuck, Selina Meyer!"
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Magazines]]
* A cartoon from ''Magazine/TheNewYorker'' has a teacher object to a child's drawing subtitled "Happy Mothers' Day" instead of "Happy ''Mother's'' Day." The child clarifies that he HasTwoMommies.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Newspaper Comics]]
* A 2019 ''ComicStrip/{{Bizarro}}'' comic has the purveyor of a hot dog stand with the sign, "Sloppy Joe's Hot Dogs", explaining to someone pointing at the sign that his name is Sloppy Joe and that the apostrophe is correct.
* [[http://www.realclear.com/comics/pearls_before_swine/2017/06/15/ In a 2017]] ''ComicStrip/PearlsBeforeSwine'' comic, it's "No Punctuation Day", and Pig declares, "Terrific who needs punctuation" before turning to his uncle Joe (who's holding a basketball) and saying, "Shoot Uncle Joe". Rat does the predictable.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Theatre]]
* In the "Take a Break" number from ''Theatre/{{Hamilton}}'', Angelica notices that in Alexander's last letter to her she was addressed as "My Dearest, Angelica" rather than simply "My Dearest Angelica".
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Video Games]]
* ''VideoGame/AnimalCrossingNewHorizons'': When a smug character gives you a gift to give to another villager, he tells you, "No rush", before he corrects himself, saying, "No, rush!"
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Webcomics]]
* ''Webcomic/SaturdayMorningBreakfastCereal'': A "relationship tip" recommends clever comma placement to produce honest compliments. Lie: "You have a body like Adonis." Truth: "You have a body, like Adonis."
* In an ''WebAnimation/{{Eddsworld}}'' comic, Tom sees a sign on Edd's bedroom door reading "Edds Room" and remarks on the bad grammar. The room is actually full of clones of Edd.
* There's an ''Webcomic/{{xkcd}}'' comic about mentally shifting the hyphen whenever someone refers to something as an "[adjective]-ass [noun]". [[https://xkcd.com/37/ For example]], turning "sweet-ass car" into "sweet ass-car".
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Websites]]
* There's a bot on Website/{{Reddit}} that takes cues from the [[https://xkcd.com/37/ xkcd comic]] by automatically searching for phrases with "[descriptor] ass [thing]" in posts and replying to them with the same phrase but with a hyphen placed after "ass" so it reads, "[descriptor] ass-[thing]".
* A Website/{{Tumblr}} post once analyzed that the popular phrase "Fuck bitches, get money" can develop many different meanings based on emphasis and punctuation.
-->1. "Fuck bitches, get money" -- disregard women and instead focus on aquiring [sic] currency
-->2. "Fuck bitches, get money" -- have affairs with women and get paid
-->3. "Fuck bitches, get money" -- disregard women, have an understanding of finances
-->4. "Fuck bitches, get money" -- have affairs with women and an understanding of finances
-->5. "Fuck, bitches get money" -- damn, women are getting paid
-->6. "Fuck, bitches get money" -- damn, women have a profoud [sic] understanding of finances
-->7. "Fuck, bitches, get money" -- damn it, women, go acquire currency
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Western Animation]]
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball'' episode "The Shippening", Gumball uses a notebook that [[RewritingReality magically makes everything drawn/written in it a reality]] to write a story about Bobert, Tina, and Jamie. When he writes out, "Let's eat Bobert", Darwin asks, "Shouldn't there be a comma before 'Bobert'?" Cut to Tina and Jamie eating Bobert.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': In "The Day The Violence Died", Bart objects to AmoralAttorney Lionel Hutz's request for money up front, because his card says "Works on Contingency No Money Down." Hutz corrects the card by adding punctuation so it reads "Works on Contingency? No, Money Down!"
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Real Life]]
*In a 1787 letter from Angelica Church to Alexander Hamilton, she addressed him as "Indeed my dear, Sir?" In his reply, Alexander teasingly pointed out the mislaid comma with "Adieu ma chère, soeur", (Good-bye my dear, sister.) since in French the word for "sister" sounds a bit like "sir".
* A few oddly placed commas have put the meaning of the U.S. Constitution's Second Amendment into question. "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."
* In 2006, the "[[https://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/the-2-million-comma/article18169907/ $2-million dollar comma]]" allowed Alliant Inc. to end a contract with Rogers Communications early and surprise them with a rate hike. The court agreed that the extra comma allowed the contract to be ended during its initial term, which Rogers hadn't intended:
-->[The agreement] shall continue in force for a period of five years from the date it is made, and thereafter for successive five-year terms, unless and until terminated by one year prior notice in writing by either party.
* Czarina Maria Fyodorovna saved a man from life in prison by transposing a single comma in a warrant signed by her husband, Alexander III, which exiled a criminal to imprisonment and death in Siberia. Firmly believing in the man's innocence and with full access to the Czar's office, she took action. On the bottom of the warrant the Czar had written: "Pardon impossible, to be sent to Siberia." The Czarina changed the punctuation so that her husband's instructions read: "Pardon, impossible to be sent to Siberia." The man was set free.
[[/folder]]
----
Two (or more) sentences are identical in word choice and order, but placement of punctuation changes their meaning. Observe the difference between "Execute not; liberate" and "Execute, not liberate" -- one says "don't kill" and the other says "kill". A common grammar joke refers to a comma being the difference between inviting your grandmother to dinner ("Let's eat, Grandma!") versus telling your family to cannibalize her ("let's eat Grandma!").
Someone who adds or changes existing writing on purpose stands to benefit from the modification, for example, by making a sign mean the complete opposite thing by adding a few marks. It probably won't stand up as a defense if they get in trouble, though.
Spoken, this is often AmbiguousSyntax. The classic "man-eating plant/man eating plant" isn't so ambiguous when shown in written form, assuming the writer knows how to use a hyphen.
This is often an example of PoorCommunicationKills. Might be caused by WantonCrueltyToTheCommonComma if someone miswrites or miscopies a sentence. Unnecessary quotation marks will look like ScareQuotes.
This trope is for examples where the meaning of a statement is changed by adding, erasing, or moving punctuation (but the words remain the same), and it has to occur within the work. This trope is not about the audience pointing out grammatical errors. Examples where the ambiguity is not resolved goes under AmbiguousSyntax.
----
!!Examples
[[foldercontrol]]
[[folder:Fan Works]]
* In a bit of ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' fan art by Jargon Scott, [[https://www.derpibooru.org/images/2369475 Trixie wears a t-shirt with the message "NO FAT CHICKS"]]. [[https://www.derpibooru.org/images/2369490 In the followup picture]], Twilight objects to the shirt and tells Trixie to change it--and Trixie complies by adding a comma and exclamation mark: "NO, FAT CHICKS!"
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Film--Animated]]
* At the climax of the 1969 Soviet animated children's film ''In the Country of Unlearned Lessons'', the protagonist is faced with a sentence that roughly translates as "pardon impossible to execute", with his fate depending on the proper comma placement: "pardon impossible, to execute" would get his head chopped off, while "pardon, impossible to execute" would return him home unharmed. The sentence is actually a common saying in Russia, going back to the time of Peter The Great, according to the [[https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9A%D0%B0%D0%B7%D0%BD%D0%B8%D1%82%D1%8C_%D0%BD%D0%B5%D0%BB%D1%8C%D0%B7%D1%8F_%D0%BF%D0%BE%D0%BC%D0%B8%D0%BB%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B0%D1%82%D1%8C Russian Wikipedia article about it]].
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Literature]]
* ''Literature/TenSixtySixAndAllThat'' draws attention to the classic punctuation exercise, "Charles the First walked and talked half an hour after his head was cut off", pointing out how memorable that would be. The sentence should go, "Charles the First walked and talked; half an hour after, his head was cut off."
* In one of the ''Literature/AnneOfGreenGables'' books young Davy misinterprets a phrase in his catechism. "Why should we love God? Because he makes, preserves and redeems us." Davy misses the comma and believes that God makes jam ("Preserves is just a holy way of saying jam"). Anne must point out that the comma is important in the meaning.
* ''Literature/EatsShootsAndLeaves'' teaches the difference between "eats, shoots and leaves" and "eats shoots and leaves". The panda does the latter after either misreading a wildlife guide or reading a wildlife guide that included the comma after "eats".
* There's an illustrated version of ''Eats, Shoots & Leaves'' for children, with the subtitle ''Why, Commas Really Do Make a Difference!'' (a bit of self-demonstration that wasn't present in the earlier edition). Each spread includes two sentences with different meanings due to comma placement. The author, Lynne Truss, also wrote ''The Girl's Like Spaghetti: Why, You Can't Manage Without Apostrophes!'', ''Twenty-Odd Ducks: Why, Every Punctuation Mark Counts!'', and ''Eats MORE, Shoots & Leaves: Why, ALL Punctuation Marks Matter!''
* ''Literature/EncyclopediaBrown'': Tyrone was writing a love letter via dictation over the phone one word at a time, but the punctuation wasn't dictated and turned the message into an insulting letter.
* A passage from the memoir ''[[Literature/LetsPretendThisNeverHappened Let's Pretend This Never Happened]]'' by Jenny Lawson: "Today I interviewed someone who handed me a resume saying that he'd worked at Helping Hand-Jobs. I choked on my own spit and couldn't stop coughing. Later I showed it to the interviewer in the next office. She told me that her brother had worked there once but had quit because all the manual labor had given him heatstroke. After I started coughing again she realized my confusion and explained that it was actually named Helping-Hand Jobs and was a handyman service. Never underestimate the power of punctuation, people."
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* ''Series/ThirtyRock'':
** When Grizz and Dot Com show Tracy his birthday invitations, Tracy notices that they put "Give to charity please! No presents." on the invites. Dot Com says that that's what he told them to put on them. Tracy says that what he meant was "Give to charity? Please, no. Presents!"
** At one point Jack mentions that the first edition of a book he wrote had a typo. He said "By the end of this quarter, we're all gonna be in the black-comma-guys", not "We're all gonna be in the black guys."
* In ''Series/BigTimeRush'', the hotel manager tried to ban children and teens from swimming in the pool by putting up a sign: "Private No Kids Allowed." The protagonists scribbled on the sign with a marker to make it say "Private? No! Kids Allowed!" so they can use the pool.
* An episode of ''Series/CrazyExGirlfriend'' was about a night club either called Spider's or Spiders. Their advertising wasn't consistent with the apostrophe use, causing Rebecca to wonder if it's a spider-infested club or a club owned by a spider. The sign in front of the club says Spider's.
* ''Series/DoctorWho'': There is an asteroid base that is initially assumed to be named "Demon's Run". As it turns out, it's actually "Demons Run". As in [[BewareTheNiceOnes "Demons run when a good man goes to war."]]
* ''Series/TheElectricCompany'' has sketch about the importance of punctuation takes place in a courtroom. The plaintiff is a farmer who is charging a man who fished in his pond with trespassing and fishing in a posted no fishing zone. He holds up a sign that he had posted in the pond that says, "PRIVATE PROPERTY NO FISHING ALLOWED." He says he meant the sign to say "Private Property. No Fishing Allowed." The defendant says that since the sign had no punctuation, he assumed that it meant "Private Property? No, Fishing Allowed."
* In the ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'' episode, "The Scorpion and the Toad", Lily reports two versions of the opinion her art teacher gave her piece. The first, which gave a false impression, was, "Oh, my god. This is your best work. In all my years of teaching, I've never seen anything so... Needless to say, this is art! I can't teach you anything." The second, corrected version was "Oh, my god. This is your best work? In all my years of teaching, I've never seen anything so needless. To say this is... art... I can't teach you anything."
* ''Series/JonathanCreek'': In "The Seer of the Sands", a man named Justin Mallory receives a letter from his girlfriend, who is trying to persuade her estranged husband to agree to a divorce. He reads: "Pressing Rex for a divorce again this morning. He said no, one would have to suffer much longer." This causes him to fly into a rage, get drunk, crash his boat and drown. Had he looked more closely, he would have realized that what he thought was a comma was actually a fly that had landed on the page, and she was actually telling him that Rex had agreed to the split.
* Discussed in ''Series/LastWeekTonightWithJohnOliver'' when covering Chief Justice Roberts' comments on Obamacare, then bringing up a banner used to support the London women's soccer team -- "Come On Our Girls!" -- pointing out that it really could have used a comma.
* In an episode of ''Series/ModernFamily'', Cam and Mitchell received an invitation to a Christmas party from their friend that said, "No presents please." However, Mitchell ran into another friend who tells them that the card should be read, "No presents? Please!", meaning they need to bring presents.
* ''Series/{{Taskmaster}}'': In the final stage task in Series 2, the instructions went: "Put on a pair of food-handling gloves, eat a whole banana, correctly put on a tie, and clap as many times as possible." After Katherine Ryan, the only female contestant that series, objected to "correctly put on a tie", the comma was moved after "correctly" to make: "Put on a pair of food-handling gloves, eat a whole banana correctly, put on a tie, and clap as many times as possible" so she wouldn't be at a disadvantage.
* ''Series/{{Veep}}'': During the Nevada recount in the fifth season, officials review a ballot with no vote but has "Fuck Selina Meyer" written over it. Selina's team is able to have the ballot counted for them by claiming the voter's intent was to say, "Fuck, Selina Meyer!"
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Magazines]]
* A cartoon from ''Magazine/TheNewYorker'' has a teacher object to a child's drawing subtitled "Happy Mothers' Day" instead of "Happy ''Mother's'' Day." The child clarifies that he HasTwoMommies.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Newspaper Comics]]
* A 2019 ''ComicStrip/{{Bizarro}}'' comic has the purveyor of a hot dog stand with the sign, "Sloppy Joe's Hot Dogs", explaining to someone pointing at the sign that his name is Sloppy Joe and that the apostrophe is correct.
* [[http://www.realclear.com/comics/pearls_before_swine/2017/06/15/ In a 2017]] ''ComicStrip/PearlsBeforeSwine'' comic, it's "No Punctuation Day", and Pig declares, "Terrific who needs punctuation" before turning to his uncle Joe (who's holding a basketball) and saying, "Shoot Uncle Joe". Rat does the predictable.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Theatre]]
* In the "Take a Break" number from ''Theatre/{{Hamilton}}'', Angelica notices that in Alexander's last letter to her she was addressed as "My Dearest, Angelica" rather than simply "My Dearest Angelica".
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Video Games]]
* ''VideoGame/AnimalCrossingNewHorizons'': When a smug character gives you a gift to give to another villager, he tells you, "No rush", before he corrects himself, saying, "No, rush!"
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Webcomics]]
* ''Webcomic/SaturdayMorningBreakfastCereal'': A "relationship tip" recommends clever comma placement to produce honest compliments. Lie: "You have a body like Adonis." Truth: "You have a body, like Adonis."
* In an ''WebAnimation/{{Eddsworld}}'' comic, Tom sees a sign on Edd's bedroom door reading "Edds Room" and remarks on the bad grammar. The room is actually full of clones of Edd.
* There's an ''Webcomic/{{xkcd}}'' comic about mentally shifting the hyphen whenever someone refers to something as an "[adjective]-ass [noun]". [[https://xkcd.com/37/ For example]], turning "sweet-ass car" into "sweet ass-car".
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Websites]]
* There's a bot on Website/{{Reddit}} that takes cues from the [[https://xkcd.com/37/ xkcd comic]] by automatically searching for phrases with "[descriptor] ass [thing]" in posts and replying to them with the same phrase but with a hyphen placed after "ass" so it reads, "[descriptor] ass-[thing]".
* A Website/{{Tumblr}} post once analyzed that the popular phrase "Fuck bitches, get money" can develop many different meanings based on emphasis and punctuation.
-->1. "Fuck bitches, get money" -- disregard women and instead focus on aquiring [sic] currency
-->2. "Fuck bitches, get money" -- have affairs with women and get paid
-->3. "Fuck bitches, get money" -- disregard women, have an understanding of finances
-->4. "Fuck bitches, get money" -- have affairs with women and an understanding of finances
-->5. "Fuck, bitches get money" -- damn, women are getting paid
-->6. "Fuck, bitches get money" -- damn, women have a profoud [sic] understanding of finances
-->7. "Fuck, bitches, get money" -- damn it, women, go acquire currency
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Western Animation]]
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball'' episode "The Shippening", Gumball uses a notebook that [[RewritingReality magically makes everything drawn/written in it a reality]] to write a story about Bobert, Tina, and Jamie. When he writes out, "Let's eat Bobert", Darwin asks, "Shouldn't there be a comma before 'Bobert'?" Cut to Tina and Jamie eating Bobert.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': In "The Day The Violence Died", Bart objects to AmoralAttorney Lionel Hutz's request for money up front, because his card says "Works on Contingency No Money Down." Hutz corrects the card by adding punctuation so it reads "Works on Contingency? No, Money Down!"
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Real Life]]
*In a 1787 letter from Angelica Church to Alexander Hamilton, she addressed him as "Indeed my dear, Sir?" In his reply, Alexander teasingly pointed out the mislaid comma with "Adieu ma chère, soeur", (Good-bye my dear, sister.) since in French the word for "sister" sounds a bit like "sir".
* A few oddly placed commas have put the meaning of the U.S. Constitution's Second Amendment into question. "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."
* In 2006, the "[[https://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/the-2-million-comma/article18169907/ $2-million dollar comma]]" allowed Alliant Inc. to end a contract with Rogers Communications early and surprise them with a rate hike. The court agreed that the extra comma allowed the contract to be ended during its initial term, which Rogers hadn't intended:
-->[The agreement] shall continue in force for a period of five years from the date it is made, and thereafter for successive five-year terms, unless and until terminated by one year prior notice in writing by either party.
* Czarina Maria Fyodorovna saved a man from life in prison by transposing a single comma in a warrant signed by her husband, Alexander III, which exiled a criminal to imprisonment and death in Siberia. Firmly believing in the man's innocence and with full access to the Czar's office, she took action. On the bottom of the warrant the Czar had written: "Pardon impossible, to be sent to Siberia." The Czarina changed the punctuation so that her husband's instructions read: "Pardon, impossible to be sent to Siberia." The man was set free.
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