XP: Oxford Comma?

P

Peter Creasey

Peter Creasey
In keeping with the Grammar Disorder thrust...

I do. I care.

I care for the sake of the clarity, flow, and musicality of prose. I care because words matter, punctuation matters, and there is no other logical position besides being pro-Oxford comma. I care because I like jokes about my parents, God, and Stalin. (Actually, in that case, the joke only works if you take out the Oxford comma, which I refuse to do on principle.)

Some people, apparently, disagree—including those who follow the AP’s style book, which is most traditional newspaper reporters. I am prepared to do battle with these foes. This Friday, June 24, at 3pm, we will host a live video debate on our Facebook page: me vs. readers / internet riffraff, on the topic of the Oxford comma. Besides its merits, which are clear, the following questions may be considered:

Oxford comma or serial comma?

Best Oxford-comma joke?
Click to expand...

Who Really Cares About the Oxford Comma?

. . . . Pete
 
The written language, like the spoken language, is not perfectly unambiguous.

For many years, I liked the Oxford Comma but my proofreader husband has talked me out of it.
 
originally posted by Jeff Grossman:
The written language, like the spoken language, is not perfectly unambiguous.

For many years, I liked the Oxford Comma but my proofreader husband has talked me out of it.
Click to expand...

We proofreaders are a sensible lot.
 
originally posted by Chris Coad:
If you like extraneous punctuation then the Oxford comma's for you!

I stand with the AP. Simplify, simplify.
Click to expand...

to the point of ambiguity. the oxford comma has its place. i have no idea why it is vilified. it's just a fucking comma, after all. very little ink required.

black and tan is a beer drink. with the oxford comma in control it works in a series just fine. without it, not. especially when you throw in rum and coke and seven and seven.

we've got a comb-over cheeto as a candidate for president and we're getting wrapped around the axle about this?
 
Whereas no place I have published has demanded the penultimate comma, none have disallowed it either. Those who demand it to eliminate ambiguity may usually be answered by simply rejiggering the series to get rid of the possibility of an appositive. Those who oppose it need to turn their energies to something more important such as opposing the now almost universal misuse of "begs the question," or extirpating the use of "under way" for "under weigh."
 
Scene from the Piers Anthony fantasy novel, "Castle Roogna": Dor is running around the parapet of the castle trying to dislodge the ladders of the attacking army:

Dor moved to the next ladder, but this one was really hooked on tightly. The zombie serpent was having trouble holding off the onslaught. “What’s holding you on?” Dor cried in exasperation as he labored to pry it up.

“I am an enchanted ladder,” it replied. “The stupid Mundanes stole me from a stockade arsenal; they don’t know my properties.”

“What are your properties?” Dor inquired.

“I anchor irrevocably when emplaced—until someone utters the command ‘weigh anchor.’ Then I kick loose violently. This facilitates disengagement.”

“Way anchor?”

“That doesn’t sound quite right. It’s weigh as in lifting, spoken with authority.”

“Weigh anchor!” Dor cried with authority.

“Oooh, now you’ve done it!” the ladder cried, and kicked off violently, dumping its occupants into the moat.
 
originally posted by robert ames:
originally posted by Chris Coad:
If you like extraneous punctuation then the Oxford comma's for you!

I stand with the AP. Simplify, simplify.
Click to expand...

to the point of ambiguity. the oxford comma has its place. i have no idea why it is vilified. it's just a fucking comma, after all. very little ink required.

black and tan is a beer drink. with the oxford comma in control it works in a series just fine. without it, not. especially when you throw in rum and coke and seven and seven.

we've got a comb-over cheeto as a candidate for president and we're getting wrapped around the axle about this?
Click to expand...

I'm not, no.
 
originally posted by Jeff Grossman:
The written language, like the spoken language, is not perfectly unambiguous.

For many years, I liked the Oxford Comma but my proofreader husband has talked me out of it.
Click to expand...

This thread is making me queasy.
 
originally posted by Jayson Cohen:
originally posted by Chris Coad:
If you like extraneous punctuation then the Oxford comma's for you!

I stand with the AP. Simplify, simplify.
Click to expand...

That's ridiculous. Seriously.
Click to expand...

Complicate, complicate?

Makes much more sense, you're right.
 
I've been a fan of the Oxford comma for decades before I knew that it was a legal usage of the comma and that there was a term for it. I was taught to leave it out, probably in elementary school. But rebel that I was I would slip it in.

James Dean had nothing on me.
 
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