Eating, Shooting and Leaving with Lynne Truss

You can't really do a project on punctuation without a chat with Lynne Truss now, can you? And she lives in Brighton, so I thought I'd invite her for a cup of tea at the local museum.  Ok, so we talked more about dogs and mutual friends than semi-colons, but as she quickly told me, she 's not really an expert in this field at all, just a phenomenally successful  writer on the subject who was at the right place at the right time!

So we talked about writing and rhythm and about hearing the words we write as they pop onto the screen and knowing when something doesn't sound right. We were read to as children of course, and we've heard good writing since we were tiny.

We traded opinions about how young people have become fluent in another language; text speak has become evidence of how fast the young brain learns, and although it may make the young sloppy about their punctuation, it doesn't mean that they're thick. Far from it.

But the extended use of textspeak beyond the mobile phone itself means that the first written language has become the one without the punctuation. So, while people of Lynne's and my generation think punctuation as naturally as we breathe when we read out loud, so the speedy thumbs pour out their messages without time to pause for breath let alone a comma. When it's then applied to Facebook, notes passed under desks and birthday cards, when exactly is it the right time to use 'proper' English? Even those who, like the school kids I filmed a few weeks ago, are perfectly on top of their punctuation, won't find a place for a semi-colon on a Facebook status update.

But does that mean that no-one will write like Lynne does in 20 years time? Will language become something that flows from their finger tips, something to savour with words that melt in your mouth?  Time to talk to Ros 'Big Wilson' Writing whose goal is to make sure that they do.