Sooner or later we have to come to terms with the fact that the internet has radicalized a whole generation of people who would otherwise not hold extreme views about the Oxford comma
#writing #commas #punctuation #OxfordComma #SerialComma #WritingCommunity #editing
I'm sure you've seen this, but it amuses me - so I thought I'd share it with you 😄
https://otb.cachefly.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/oxford-comma-jfk-stalin.jpg
Just noticed why the #APstyle is pants-on-head retarded. As if it wasn't already because there's no #serialcomma
It's "email" per #AP but then there's "e-book", "e-book reader", and "e-reader".
Really kinda shocking actually. I really thought this would be more level. Apparently the vast, vast majority of respondents are pro Oxford comma (87% for, N = 62).
Also good to know that this is definitively not pineapple on pizza all over again 😤
#English #AcademicChatter #SciComm #OxfordComma #SerialComma
@spacehobo @emilygorcenski
Well-said, SpaceHobo! The #SerialComma (my preferred term: accurate description + doesn't sound elitist) simply provides clarity. #SerialComma4ever #CommaLivesMatter
@juergen_hubert
I'm not qualified to be an alpha reader in folklore, but if you need an editor... I'm good! Plus I'm a native German speaker (not so great with writing) so I can go to source material to make sure things aren't list in translation). #OxfordCommaForever (though I prefer the term #SerialComma because it's more accurate and is decolonized)
If you look back to the 1953 Associated Press Style Book, the first modern edition (and the first to mention usage of the serial comma), it clearly states, ' Note: Usage has eliminated the final comma in the series before “and” and “or” as a departure from text books. '
This is clear evidence that the AP editors understood this was a novel practice at odds with previous educational conventions.
What's interesting to me about arguments over usage of "the Oxford comma" is that young people apparently have the idea that the use of the serial comma (its proper name) is somehow a deviation from standard usage, and not the other way around.
Go back 40-50 years, and the serial comma was the standard way everyone was taught to write in American English.
I usually don't use the Oxford comma, but I do when it helps avoid ambiguity. To require the use of the Oxford comma is insensible, IMO.
If you don’t use serial commas, are you a serial killer?
No accusation, I’m simply asking the question.
