Snails and Monkey Tails

An entertaining, informative, and elegantly designed guide that makes understanding punctuation marks and symbols simple and fun.

A rollicking linguistic ride for fans of Eats, Shoots & Leaves and Just My Type.



What is the purpose of the comma – perhaps the most used symbol in the English language – and what are the proper uses of the asterisk? Do quote marks go inside or outside punctuation? What about a quote within a quote – a quote from someone quoting someone else? How much space goes on either side of an ellipsis? What’s the difference between an en dash and an em dash?


Snails and Monkey Tails is a show-stopping guide with more than 75 uniquely designed two-colour spreads. Award-winning graphic designer Michael Arndt explores the typographic origins, names, and shapes of both common punctuation marks and symbols, as well as the proper and diverse usage of each. From the full stop to the question mark, the semicolon to the en dash, symbols and marks are an integral part of language.