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PUNCTUATION

demotivational posters - PUNCTUATION

PUNCTUATION
The difference between “helping your Uncle Jack, off his horse.” and “helping your uncle jack off his horse”

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oohwakakaka

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  1. karellan says:

    Your first sentence isn’t even correct grammar usage. Way to fail, dumbass.

    • KannaFoxxeh says:

      thank you.

    • Mike says:

      COMMA SPLICE

      You’re doing, it right.

      • Bob says:

        Uh, a comma splice is when you incorrectly join two independent clauses using nothing but a comma. Nothing here has anything to do with a comma splice.

    • DashP says:

      I think what he meant was “Helping your Uncle, Jack, off his horse.”

      • imouse1 says:

        I really hope that’s what he meant.

        • PineTree says:

          But then “uncle” wouldn’t be capitalized. “Uncle Jack” is being used as a single proper noun. Someone should re-demotivationalize this.

      • Joe says:

        Actually, the correct, non-horrifying version would be “Helping your uncle, Jack, off his horse.” And even that is a fragment.

        • Uncle Jack says:

          Unless “Uncle Jack” is his proper name (and from the looks of the caption, it is). In which case any comma would be out of place, and it’d be a matter of capitalization, not punctuation.

      • James says:

        You are correct, sir.
        This is very similar in the way that commas save lives.
        EX: “Let’s eat, Grandpa!” versus “Let’s eat Grandpa!”

    • m0llum says:

      Correction:
      sentence 1- helping your uncle Jack off his horse
      sentence 2- helping your uncle jack-off his horse

      Check your own failures before you call on others.

  2. hrlamb says:

    Isn’t that meant to be capitalization? The comma is unnecessary, and the only way the sentence changes is dependent on whether you capitalize Uncle Jack or not.

  3. Hammy says:

    Ah, there’s nothing quite like making a point about punctuation, by using that, puctuation, incorrectly.

  4. G. James says:

    Capitalization is punctuation.

    It’s also the difference between a proper noun and a verb in this case.

    This image has improper use of both comma and period.

    • x-nooze says:

      Capitalization is so NOT punctuation.

    • Manna says:

      I don’t recall, in either of my AP classes, ever being taught that capitalization is a form of punctuation….
      Although, if you’re right, that may have something to do with the school I went to :p

    • VZG says:

      No it does not. “Helping your Uncle Jack, off his horse.” is not correct. And capitalization is not punctuation — but capitalization and punctuation are both parts of the mechanics of the language.

      So… fail to you, you didn’t even quite get that one point correct.

  5. MacFall says:

    Comma fail. The only way to change it would be to put another word like “get” between “Jack” and “off”. Putting a comma there is just incorrect comma usage; it doesn’t change the meaning of the sentence.

    • XD says:

      Or, you could make ‘Jack’ an appositive (I think that’s the word for it…) by adding in a comma before Jack in the first one. The result would look like this:

      “helping your uncle, Jack, off his horse.”

      • Acies says:

        so… what does “off his horse” mean? how do you off a horse? is it the same as saying you’re going to off someone..?? in other words kill the horse? oh no T_T

      • MacFall says:

        There we go.

      • D.M. says:

        While that may be true, you should have also learned that you don’t separate it from the rest of the sentence (with commas) if it’s only one word. The reason for that is so not to disrupt the flow of a sentence by over-punctuating (especially when spoken). Writing, “…helping your uncle Jack off his horse…”, is sufficient enough to express its meaning. However, if you were to add a descriptor, such as “my father” into the sentence that contains this phrase, you would have to separate it with commas to show the natural disruption in flow: “…helping your uncle Jack, my father, off his horse…”
        Now, in speech, one might encounter problems with this phrase as is, because there is no way to show capitalization, so using discretion and sense with pauses might be a good idea.
        I’ll give you credit, though: at least you didn’t say ‘off of’…

        • consoler111 says:

          tl;dr

        • Blitz says:

          Jack is the descriptor in reference to the word “uncle” in the sentence where “uncle” is used as a noun. So “helping your uncle, Jack, off his horse” is correct.

          If, however, the word “uncle” is not used as a noun, but included as part of the proper name “Uncle Jack,” no commas are necessary. “Helping your Uncle Jack off his horse” is then also correct.

          The phrase “helping your uncle Jack off his horse” is just a mess…regardless of if it is written or spoken.

  6. BER says:

    Education: the difference between thinking a comma is appropriate in “helping your Uncle Jack, off his horse” and knowing that it’s not.

  7. Steve says:

    Uhhh, the punctuation is not wrong, it’s the capitalization that makes the distinction.

    “Helping your Uncle Jack, off his horse” is incorrect.
    “Helping your uncle Jack off his horse” means one thing.
    “Helping your uncle jack off his horse” means another.

    • BER says:

      I hate to point out a comma splice to someone who otherwise was making a good point, but….

      • Sofa Spud says:

        Steve used his commas correctly, even if a semicolon is more commonly used in the place of the second one.

        • kamizilla says:

          Comma splice: The use of a comma, rather than a semicolon, colon, or period, to separate related main clauses in the absence of a coordinating conjunction: often considered to be incorrect or undesirable, esp. in formal writing. (Thanks online dictionary!)
          Comma splicing is generally considered incorrect when you have two independent clauses involved, as Steve does here. I’d say his usage is acceptable, but strictly speaking, it’s not correct. He needs a conjunction!

        • Truth says:

          No, it is most definitely a mistake.

          It is a common mistake, and one that I would not usually bother pointing out, but, since this discussion is about punctuation, it’s worth pointing out the error.

          • Uhhm... says:

            Sorry Truth, but I have to point out both your run-on sentence and obvious irony of containing a comma splice while criticizing someone else’s comma splice. There should be a period or semicolon between your two separate clauses.

            Hence: “It is a common mistake, and one that I would not usually bother pointing out. But, since this discussion is about punctuation, it’s worth pointing out the error.”

            Or: “It is a common mistake, and one that I would not usually bother pointing out; but, since this discussion is about punctuation, it’s worth pointing out the error.”

            I prefer the former; it keeps the sentence from being too long.

    • Truth says:

      To improve your first “sentence”. It should either be two sentences, or two complete ideas separated by a semicolon.

      “The punctuation is not wrong; it’s the capitalization that makes the distinction.”

      OR

      “The punctuation is not wrong. It’s the capitalization that makes the distinction”

      • Bunnehkins says:

        OR
        “The punctuation is not wrong, rather it is the capitalization that makes the distinction.”

        • Truth says:

          That option works too. I was just trying to make the changes as minimal as possible.

          • BER says:

            No, that option does NOT work. It too is a comma splice. Throwing in the word “rather” doesn’t help; if anything, it made it worse as “rather” should be followed by a comma in this usage.

            • Truth says:

              Though you seem to be unaware of this, the word “rather” is a conjunction.

              Would you care to revise your statement?

  8. Brandon says:

    Also the difference between:

    “Let’s eat, Grandma!”
    and
    “Let’s eat Grandma!”

  9. mags says:

    You could also go for ‘helping your uncle, Jack, off his horse’.

    • VZG says:

      THERE’S a real way to do it!

    • D.M. says:

      Read above. You can’t separate a one-word appositive from the rest of the sentence because it disrupts the flow. If you were to add something else in, such as “my father”, or use his full name, maybe “Jack Johnson” (I know, I went with the theme of the caption–so sue me), then you could do it. Otherwise, ‘uncle Jack’ is actually the person’s entire title of address, and you can’t split it up.

      • erg says:

        Yes, you can. It is done often and correctly. In any case, one may be addressing a person named “Jack.” If you keep refraining from capitalizing “uncle” before Jack, then stop preaching about other errors.

        • D.M. says:

          Said “erg”.
          If you keep trying to correct what isn’t wrong, you might end up on a Demotivational poster yourself.

  10. Eruanna says:

    As everyone else has already said. Comma fail.

    • Sofa Spud says:

      Incorrect use of “already.” Time stamp recognition fail.

      • Twentydragon says:

        The time stamps, read correctly, do indeed indicate that others have already said this. However, Eruanna’s post *does* contain an incorrect period: “… said. Comma fail.”

        That should either be a colon or a comma; either is acceptable here.

  11. InkyBloc says:

    Capitalization is not punctuation, punctuation is the symbols, such as this misplaced comma. Failure, thy name is oohwakakaka

  12. Skull says:

    good ol days….

    helpin my uncle jack off a horse….
    good ol days

  13. Marsuveesblack says:

    Haha, looks like that horse skipped 1st ,2nd and 3rd base and went straight for home plate.

  14. Rosepetal says:

    Ahh, I love when people try to correct your grammar (or anything else) and end up being wrong themselves.

  15. tury says:

    aren’t they shootin the pic for a commercial for benneton? :p

  16. Two Socks says:

    This poster fails. It’s trying to be clever but is completely wrong. There would have been many other ways to make the point but correctly. And capitalisation never has been, and never will be, punctuation. Punctuation is defined as follows:
    “the marks used to clarify meaning by indicating separation of words into sentences and clauses and phrases”.
    The use of the comma in the first sentence is not correct, it’s very s**tty grammar. If you wanted to say you helped Uncle Jack off his horse you would not need the comma. A comma indicates a short pause which would be unnecessary for the sentence. The only way the two sentences really truly do mean different tings depends on using a capital letter at the beginning of “jack” and the definition one chooses to use for “jack”.

  17. spider says:

    lol….I love how the ‘English teacher’ couldn’t even spell capitalization correctly…..o_O

  18. RiderLeangle says:

    I’m shocked no one is worried that the maker of this demotivator knows where to find pics of horses humping..

    • no_need says:

      I clicked into the comments to moan about incorrect usage of punctuation, and found this comment – now I’ve been completely sidetracked, and also: this made my day :3

    • Helion says:

      Try Jackass 2, I’m guessing this is a still from that movie.

      • Jedit says:

        An ass is not a horse. You fail.

        • Helion says:

          Shocking as it may seem … the movie “Jackass” and it’s sequel “Jackass 2″ wasn’t a movie above a donkey that could play basketball, hockey, tennis, cricket, baseball …

          And for your information an ass is actually a horse. From Wikipedia …

          “The donkey or ass, Equus africanus asinus,[1][2] is a domesticated member of the Equidae or horse family.”

          Who’s an ass now :-D

          • Bezoar says:

            You are.

            The domestic horse is of the species Equus ferus caballus. Horses and donkeys are separate species, as they do not interbreed to produce viable offspring.

    • TimmyMac says:

      Welcome to google

  19. MeMeMe says:

    CORRECT punctuation would be as follows:

    Helping your uncle, Jack, of his horse.

    That is, commas surrounding “Jack.”

    • MeMeMe says:

      off*

      LOL!

    • BER says:

      That assumes the person has only one uncle, which may or may not be correct. (See also dependent vs. independent clauses.)

      How the f*** did this thread turn into an English class, anyway?

      • MacFall says:

        It started as a punctuation critique, but contained a major punctuation fail.

      • MeMeMe says:

        It doesn’t matter if the person has 50 uncles! In this sentence, he is referring to ONE uncle! That is, the ONE uncle is the subject. If one had 3 sons, yet only one was present, they would introduce them as such:

        This is my son, so-and-so.

        So STFU, BER!

        • BER says:

          Go back to ninth-grade English, MeMeMe. I know it’s fun to try to be smarter than the next guy on the Internet, but in this case you’ve failed.

          In this example, if this person had more than one uncle, the phrase “helping my uncle off his horse” would not identify which uncle was being assisted and the name “Jack” is essential to the meaning of the phrase. (It’s not in incorrect construct; it simply doesn’t provide the same detail as when the name is used.) Therefore, no matter how many uncles may or may not be present at this event, the name “Jack” is a restrictive appositive. That is to say, without the name we do not know which uncle he’s helping and “Jack,” therefore, is a restrictive appositive and therefore must not be set off by commas.

          Now, if the guy only had one uncle, then by definition we know that any reference to his uncle must be regarding his uncle named Jack; in that case, then, “Jack” is a nonrestrictive appositive and should be set off by commas.

          A simple Google search for “restrictive appositives” might help you with your knowledge of English. Then again, it might not. It depends on whether you’re willing to learn or if you prefer to be content in your ignorance. :-)

          • BER says:

            *an incorrect

          • D.M. says:

            I believe what he’s trying to say is that the context of the sentence will never tell you if Jack is the only uncle the person has.
            (Here’s where I’m expounding)
            Even if he is, ‘Jack’ must be restrictive for three reasons: it will never be known whether the speaker does or doesn’t have multiple uncles, ‘uncle Jack’ is actually a complete form of address (like a title) for the person, and also because it’s disruptive to the flow of the sentence to separate a one-word appositive.
            On the other hand, his example IS flawed. Still, while his logic may be erroneous, he does bring up a valid point. At least, I think.

      • PrittStix says:

        I don’t know but it is helping me with my linguistics!

  20. SallyJ says:

    Correct constructions and capitalizations:
    “Helping your Uncle Jack off his horse”
    “Helping your uncle jack off his horse”
    “Helping your uncle, Jack, off his horse”
    The creator of this demotivation has a misplaced comma, but it is not a comma splice.
    Capitalization is technically what makes a difference in the meaning here.
    BTW, the commas in my third example create are setting off an appositive– in this case, “uncle” is not capitalized. Unless “uncle” is being used as part of a name or the first word of a sentence, it is not capitalized.
    None of these are sentences. They’re fragments or dependent clauses.

    • BER says:

      Or a gerund phrase, as in “Helping your uncle jack off his horse is a good way to end up with your photo on Failbook.”

  21. Rogue_Leader says:

    “Helping your uncle jack-off his horse”

    No charge for the lesson.

  22. Sofa Spud says:

    Here’s a point that’s been lost in the furor over the original post containing a punctuation error (on the Internet? For shame!):

    Neither horse in the photo is being jacked off. Ambiguity fail.

    • kamizilla says:

      I did notice that and thought it was hilarious. However, please refrain from using the big words you don’t understand. It’s starting to get awkward. Please make gratuitous use of a dictionary.

      Saying “ambiguity fail” contextually makes no sense. Either there is no jacking off (there isn’t), or the picture can, indeed, be ambiguously interpreted. Interpretation fail, perhaps.

      And of course there’s a Fuhrer! The grammar Nazis thrive where there is Fuhrer.

    • Shushy says:

      ¬_¬ You did look at the photo, right?

  23. Incredible fake name says:

    What always amazes me is how so few of the commenters actually read other peoples comments. C’mon, let’s have a few more people point out the grammar fail in the OP!!

  24. Scott says:

    Isn’t it a matter of Semantics.

  25. Herr_P says:

    http://www.bash.org./?367896

    I’m surprised that no one had posted that yet.

  26. keithybabes says:

    Like the struggling boss with two employees, Jack and Jill. He had a difficult decision to make, so he invited Jill into his office, and said. ‘Listen, I’m desperate, I’m gonna have to lay you or Jack off.’
    And Jill said ‘Would you mind jacking off just this once? I have a headache.’

    • The Dark Templar says:

      I lol’d…

    • D.M. says:

      That’s why I’ve always argued the ‘Don’t end a sentence with a preposition’ rule. This is an example of a preposition not acting as a preposition, but as a modifying adverb.
      In my personal opinion, though, I actually see terms like ‘lay off’, ‘give up’, ‘throw away’, ‘turn on/off’, etc., as verb forms rather than verb/adverb. Using the two words in conjunction modifies the verb in such a way that it changes its entire meaning. Think about it: Saying, “I’m going to turn the light”, probably means you’re planning on shifting the position of a table lamp by rotating it. Saying, “I’m going to turn ON the light”, means you’ll press a button or flip a switch in order to illuminate a dark room. The denotation of the word ‘turn’ has nothing to do with flipping a switch, so I maintain that adding the word ‘off’ changes the entire meaning of the word ‘turn’ and influences the rest of the sentence, as well. The same applies to the other examples, as it does to probably thousands of others. Thus, I would argue that, in those cases, the prepositions are actually part of the verb form, just as helping verbs like ‘will’ and ‘have’ are.
      In your little quip, saying, “I have to lay you or Jack”, would mean the boss is either thinking about having sex with one of them, or placing either flat on the ground. Saying, “I have to lay OFF you or Jack”, would imply that the boss wants to fire either of them, or lighten one’s workload, possibly (as in “ease up on”).

      • keithybabes says:

        Well ‘I’m going to switch on the TV’ and ‘I’m going to switch the TV on’ are equally acceptable in practice.
        And ‘ I’m gonna beat you up’ is probably better than any alternative. Context is everything.
        And ‘lay off my Mom!’ would generally mean something different from ‘lay my Mom off!’
        In English there are always exceptions to ‘rules’ of grammar. Remember ‘Not so much a code, more a set of guidelines.’ (Cap’n Barbossa)

        • D.M. says:

          I hear you. Just like the saying about democracy, English is the worst language, except for all the others. I say that it’s the worst language, especially to someone learning it, because of alternate meanings, contradictions, and rules that don’t really hold true. I understand that every language has its imperfections, but English (especially American because of additions like slang) is sort of ridiculous.

  27. mr_b says:

    I love how everyone’s over analyzing a c**k joke.

  28. Carson says:

    “Helping your uncle, Jack, off his horse.” This would be the punctuation I would use.

  29. Earl_Zach says:

    So this is where all the Grammar Nazis have gone to for today!

  30. AJ says:

    Already on bash.

  31. Iman Azol says:

    FAIL.

    This thread is full of it.

    Of course, this site is usually full of it.

  32. Twentydragon says:

    This failure in comma usage ranks right up there with the classic subject-verb separation:
    “The first player across the finish line, wins.” (As seen in “Mario Party 5″ through “7″.)

  33. Brrah says:

    why is nobody upset he stole that joke from The Love Guru?

  34. RW says:

    Forget the comma and change the name to Capitalization. Proper nouns get that; jack off doesn’t.

  35. GrammarNazi says:

    Serisouly, people! Learn some grammar!

    ‘…helping your uncle Jack off OF his horse.’

    No comma necessary. Just an extra word to make it sound CORRECT.

    Damn ><

  36. DontWorryBeHappy says:

    Demotivational fail.

  37. hoot mcgoot says:

    My head nearly asploded from reading all these grammar nazis arguing. Wait, do you spell asplode with a comma or a semicolon?

  38. radzor26 says:

    this picture is from Jackass: Number 2

  39. Oxford-2000 says:

    Actually, the verb “jack-off” is hyphenated. Helping your uncle Jack off his horse. Helping your uncle jack-off his horse.

  40. robohara says:

    “Help, your, Uncle Jack, off, the horse.” – Shatner

  41. Sumpm says:

    Punctuation on the internets? Never heard of such a thing.

  42. Asinine says:

    when you quote bash.org, please do so correctly ;) ” Capitalization is the difference between “I had to help my uncle Jack off a horse..” and “I had to help my uncle jack off a horse..”"

  43. [...] Punctuation PUNCTUATION The difference between “helping your Uncle Jack, off his horse.” and “helping your uncle j [...] [...]

  44. Huey says:

    You got it wrong; there’s not meant to be a comma.

  45. Mike says:

    oh, wow i made this same joke, but you got the better horse picture. well played

  46. foozlesprite says:

    I always heard it as

    CAPITALIZATION
    The difference between ‘Helping your uncle jack off a horse’ and ‘Helping your Uncle Jack off a horse.’

  47. Guest123456789 says:

    Based on the ‘very’ brief research I’ve just done, here is my answer to this well thought out discussion.

    “Punctuation marks are symbols which indicate the structure and organization of written language, as well as intonation and pauses to be observed when reading aloud.”

    One must ask the question; do capitals change the structure and organization of written language? If they do, then yes, they are punctuation.

    Though the rules for capitalization are complex, the reaility is, is that they do not change the meaning of a setence. Though a sentence would grammatically look incorrect, the meaning of a sentence would not change just because the capitals were left out. Capitals simply refer to proper names, places, the indication of self, as well as the beginning of a sentance. Capitals have nothing to do with how a sentence is formed for meaning, punctuation does.

    *shrugs* And there you have it.

    • lop667 says:

      “Sentance” and the “;” are wrong. Anyway,

      I think he meant: “Helping your uncle jack off his horse” and “Helping your uncle jack-off his horse”.

  48. Paula says:

    I agree. The punctuation correction is wrong, and the ‘sentence’ is a fragment. I’m disappointed that it was even published on this website.

  49. Dan says:

    When you, want to make a point about, punctuation you should, probably know what you, are talking about.

  50. javettelesmis says:

    you mean..
    helping your uncle, Jack, off his horse.

  51. Mackenzie(: says:

    Hey this is from Jackass number 2! XD

  52. loluke says:

    pretty sure this is from one of the only “jack-ass”‘s ive seen. they drink horse semen…

  53. jgreene says:

    How do we know that is Uncle Jack off his horse?

  54. gamerboy20091 says:

    from the movie “JACKASS number TWO”.

  55. Crystal Meth says:

    It’s dyslexics I feel sorry for. One ventured onto the internet in 2002, but he was killed and dismembered by a baying pack of grammar nazis.

  56. cornrows says:

    uhh… The first sentence is grammatically incorrect in any context…

  57. eagan og says:

    wtf who fn cares , im holding the ropes, eww grammer. yer so worried about where to put the comma, may be you should be the mare**/

  58. the michael experience says:

    there is nothing wierd or very funny about this photo at all, apart of course from the caption underneath. the man i this photo is clearly guiding the stallion into the mare as it is covering her,it makes it alot simpler for the stallion (my family keep horses)

  59. Anne says:

    Guys can you suggest what punctuation to use at the end of this phrase:”I love you more”

    • Twentydragon says:

      It’s not just a phrase, it’s a sentence. Use a period.

      There are tonal differences that can turn that period into a question mark or an exclamation point, but in general, you’ll want to use a period.

  60. Invincible90 says:

    Please can someone help me and suggest what punctuation to use at the end of this sentence:I love you more

  61. Ara says:

    CAPITALIZATION: The REAL difference between “Help your Uncle Jack of his horse” and “Help your Uncle jack of his horse.”


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