Oxford wonderings while colon and semicolon freeze in the cold!
Finally! I have found an answer! Well, at least a part of one anyway. I, myself am a fan of the Oxford comma (despite the fact that I'd never heard it referred to in such a manner before) and I always wondered why some people failed to add a comma between the last "and" in a list and the item mentioned before it. What truly confused me, was the fact that those who omitted this little bugger were never told wrong for their actions. I used to pull my hair out over this unfortunate, mystifying occurrence, but now all has been laid to rest. I need not worry anymore. In fact, I now have a correct name for the item that I was so worried over. Perhaps we should hold elections over the internet or some such in order to determine exactly which comma to use: the Oxford comma or its close-knit relative? No, better not. Look what's happened with the last few elections!
- They are old-fashioned
- They are middle-class
- They are optional
- They are mysteriously connected to pausing
- They are dangerously addictive (vide Virginia Woolf)
- The difference between them is too negligible to be grasped by the brain of man" (Truss, 109-110)
I must admit, that I have my own fear of colons and semicolons. When should I use them? When are they grammatically incorrect? Then to top it all off, I start wondering if I'm using too many of the little suckers! It's quite true, they are addicting! However, when I was reading this list, I was surprised to note that some individuals thought them middle-class; are we referring to the fact that wealthier punctuation marks think themselves better than others? I was surprised though at the fact that the colon and semicolon were so old. Then again, to today's society it seems as if anything older than ten years is obsolete, unnecessary, and certainly not needed. (Oxford comma!) In the end, I suppose it's up to each and every single person as to whether or not they'd prefer to use a colon, a semicolon, or simply use a mundane (though greatly important) period. And ya know what? That's probably one of the few creative options that you may actually have when writing with subsequent punctuation!
Ohhhh no. Here comes the Oxford boys! Best not let 'em get too near the other young fellers and have 'em be startin' a brawl now ya hear? POW!
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I definitely agree with you Maddie on the second part of your entry. I will admit to having a certain fear of semicolons and colons, but I was taught how to use them. But it was the whole "am I sure I'm using this right? What if I do it wrong?" mindset that kept me from using it. But maybe (that's probably a bit maybe) I'll try using them more often, even if I AM corrected. Because I guess in the end, we have to learn from our mistakes.
Maddie, I definitely sympathize with you over the Oxford comma. I wrote about the Oxford comma in my entry too, you can take a look, if you like: http://blogs.setonhill.edu/GretaCarroll/2008/04/oxford_is_the_oldest_englishsp.html
I am all for the use of the extra comma too. And I’m not gonna lie, I’ve been finding all kinds of examples where the Oxford comma has been left out since I’ve read this, and it’s making me go crazy! Haha.