A father and his son are in a car accident. The father is killed and the son is seriously injured. The son is rushed to the hospital whereupon the surgeon says, “I cannot operate on this boy because he is my son.” How is it possible? For those of us who were presented with this scenario in another century, please don’t cringe. Sadly 40-75% of people still can’t figure it out. For those who do, it usually takes a few moments to realize that a surgeon could be the boy’s mother.

“A woman without her man is nothing.” The men in the class wrote: “A woman, without her man, is nothing.” The women in the class wrote: “A woman: without her, man is nothing.” How likely is it that the professor was a man, especially given the use of the word, chalkboard in describing the exercise? Is that relevant and would this be a 21st century student reaction? What we do know is that, indeed, punctuation makes a difference and underscores the importance of editing all co