Funny/Morbid Story About Punctuation

I was reading 'Improve Your Grammar (Collins)' today, and I couldn't help but laugh when I read the following passage that demonstrates the importance of punctuation:

"A well-known illustration recounts the fate of a warrior in ancient Greece who, on the eve of leaving for a war, consulted the Oracle at Delphi. Thou shalt go thou shalt return never by war shalt thou perish, he was told. The overworked Oracle spoke without pause, so the warrior naturally assumed that he meant Thou shalt go, thou shalt return, never by war shalt thou perish and departed with great confidence. Unfortunately he was killed in the first battle, never realising that what the Oracle really meant was, Thou shalt go, thou shalt return never, by war shalt thou perish."



P.S. Punctuation is the difference between “I helped my Uncle Jack off a horse” and “I helped my Uncle jack off a horse”.

 

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and this

I am still trying the difference between the two?

 

The first:

Thou shalt go: You shall go.

Thou shalt return: You shall return.

Never by war shalt thou perish: You shall never perish by war.

The second:

Thou shalt go: You shall go.

Thou shalt return never:You shall never return.

By war shalt thou perish: You shall perish by war.

 

Haha, awesome.

 

It would be interesting to see the original Delphic verse in Greek, but alas, all we have is an anecdote quoted by Latin authors, so we can never know what the exact Greek phrase was.

 

lol, that was awesome.
+1 to the TS

 

Amr thank you. Now it is clear.

 

would you be able to read Greek.
I thought it would be unreadable unlike Latin which holds the same alphabet as French/English.

 

it's not unreadable if you learn the alphabet... spending time in greece allowed me to learn the upper case fairly easily, though it took a while longer to get the lower...