A Personal Note
We saw a punctuation typo the other day. Instead of a “.20-carat diamond,” it was written as a “20-carat diamond.”
When you looked at the jewel being described, it was obvious there was no 20-carater anywhere to be found. A decimal point was missing. An easy, and maybe mildly embarrassing, punctuation error.
It reminded me of something that happened to me as a kid.
I saw an ad in the back of a comic book offering a FREE 25-point diamond ring!
FREE!
I quickly sent away for my diamond ring. When it finally arrived, we needed a loupe to find the diamond.
I was certain there had been some mistake, so I went back to the comic book and looked at the ad again.
And there it was.
A decimal point I had missed.
It wasn’t offering a quarter-carat diamond. It was offering a quarter-point diamond. A .25-point diamond. 🤦♂️
As gemologists and journalists, we can spend way too much time agonizing over punctuation. But punctuation matters. Put that missing decimal point on an invoice, a parcel paper, a laboratory report, or an appraisal, and suddenly a tiny typo can have major consequences.
My daughter once had a T-shirt showing a mother calling out to her children:
“Let’s Eat Kids!”
Underneath, in smaller type:
“Punctuation Saves Lives.”
Punctuation not only saves lives, it can save carat weight, too.
Sometimes it really is worth taking the time to go back and give something a second, third, or even fourth look.
You never know. You just might see something you missed.
And that, as they say, is the point. – gr
