Not gonna lie. Just really posting this for lil.
Thanks! I heard about this on the radio. A good win for the drivers. Punctuation purists are feeling pretty proud. Here I was poised to pass on pointless pedantry and accept more nuanced writing styles and now this. NPR says that they follow AP style guide (no Oxford comma) unless clarity demands it. Perhaps that's the best way to go. I used to hate inconsistency. I was a kind of all or nothing person when it came to commas. mk may remember the editing fun we had with the Trojan War. So many commas, so little time. I'll try now and roll that back -- no Oxford C's unless needed for clarity or court cases -- and see if I can stand it. Bye bye Oxford C. See you around, sometimes, maybe.
Legal language is very precise. I kind of love its precision. In this context it makes perfect sense for meaning to hinge on a comma. - I have to deal with, recognize, and interpret similar subtle distinctions in language frequently (enough) as part of my Real Job.
I always use the Oxford comma. I deal in these sorts of precise language issues occasionally at work too, so I am always trying to be aware of how something I put out could be interpreted. Not that the people who are supposed to read my emails actually do, mind you.
Perfect title. I consistently Oxford. It's kinda personal preference in technical writing, I think. Edit: btw, who got me a job? lil, of course.
It's the adult way to punctuate. Seriously. Those who argue against the Oxford comma claim that they were taught in grade 2 that commas in a list mean "and," so if you already have an "and" before the last item in a list, you do not need a comma. For example, Grade 2: She came home with a book, a toy, a bat and a ball. Oxford: She came home with a book, a toy, a bat, and a ball. or She came home with a book, a toy, and a bat and ball.
How weird is that: such a common item of punctuation having such varied use in different languages? This is how we put a comma in a Russian language list. It seems weird to me that you would put a comma after the next-to-last item on the list. There's no particular logic behind it: we just don't have the Oxford comma in Russian.Grade 2: She came home with a book, a toy, a bat and a ball.
That line of argument doesn't make a whole lot of sense. If commas meant "and" then why not use semicolons instead? (I'm not trying to argue with you; I'm just putting into text something I noticed.)
It doesn't make a lot of sense, but that's how they teach children to punctuate a list. They give them this sentence, "He came home with a book and a toy and a bat and a ball." Then they tell the junior units to put a comma where the ands are -- except the last one. I don't think they get to semicolons till at least grade 8, if ever.