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A reporter send me the following inquiry ... PAUL - WHAT DID YOU DO ON YOUR HOLIDAY??????
From The Australian website today:
Kiwi committee defines colon
AFP
September 22, 2004
WELLINGTON: New Zealand's lawmakers have come up with a
definition of the colon that will have dictionary founder Samuel Johnson
turning in his grave while delighting the most pedantic.
Parliament is consolidating tax law and heard complaints from experts
that they were uncertain what that particular punctuation mark meant
in the proposed legislation.
Helpfully parliament's finance and expenditure select committee issued
this guide: "The colon is essentially intended to be interpreted as an
indication that the statements in the items are not linked conjunctively
or disjunctively, that is, it would not be appropriate to link them with
either an 'and' or an 'or'," said the advice.
"In some instances, each statement in a list that is punctuated with
colons may apply independently, without relying on the operation of
the statements in the other items.
"If the items are statements representing pre-conditions for a statutory
result, the effect of linking the items with colons is that the result will follow
if one or more of the pre-conditions are satisfied.
"If such items were linked with 'and', the result would follow where all the
items were satisfied. If the items were linked with 'or', the result would
follow where only one item but no more than one item was satisfied."
Got that?
The Oxford Dictionary defines the colon as punctuation "to mark
antithesis, illustration, quotation or listing."
Fowler's Modern English Usage provides a witty and small essay on the
colon and defines its special function thus: "That of delivering the goods
that have been invoiced in the preceding words."
AFP
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