Vanishing points...

(“Locating the Vanishing Point” by David Macaulay.)

The rules of grammar and punctuation have never been my first love. Beyond the basics is (are?) beyond me. I mean who has the right to impose all those headachy demands on my freeflowing expressions, maan?

But I will say this... I've noticed the periods used to separate the letters of initialized abbreviations has gone the way of the "cent" symbol. When I was a kid growing up in the U.S.A. I was fascinated by the tension between the K.G.B. and the C.I.A.(.-extra period?) But today the kids are too busy watching DVD's learning HTML and eating at KFC with their ATM cards in the USA to be concerned with my OCD.

I understand that an acronym needs no periods. NATO, LASER, and SCUBA are all spoken words formed from the first letters of longer verbal expressions. But the abbreviation for Los Angeles was always L.A., never LA which it has now firmly morphed into (much to the dismay of postal workers in Louisiana). So what's going on? Does anybody have William Safire's phone number? He's in N.Y.(.-?)

And finally, if you thought you couldn't love a dot, then you must experience this .