Arthur D. Hlavaty

Oxford wins again in the comma wars

Fri, 06 Oct 2017 09:15:37 GMT

Anne Wiazemsky, Film Star, Wife of Godard and Author, Dies at 70 [Times headline]

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Wandering colon

Sun, 02 Jul 2017 12:08:25 GMT

The 5 best punctuation marks in literature

Thanx to andrewducker

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Commatose

Fri, 25 Nov 2016 10:38:56 GMT

Missing commas, including Bill Cosby’s Come On People

Thanx to Metafilter

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In typo veritas

Wed, 02 Nov 2016 12:14:44 GMT

Proud to Be British hoodie needs an apostrophe. Reminds me of the cover of Bill Cosby’s Come On, People leaving out the comma.

Thanx to andrewducker

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T. Herman Zweibel would turn over in his grave

Tue, 16 Dec 2014 11:57:25 GMT

Amazon goes to war against the hyphen.

Thanx to andrewducker

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Semi

Sun, 26 Oct 2014 15:30:36 GMT

Donald E. Westlake defends the semicolon. This is from his nonfiction collection The Getaway Car, which everyone should read.

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Don't be commatose

Thu, 01 May 2014 11:04:28 GMT

The importance of the comma (with stupid HuffPost headline)

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;

Mon, 24 Mar 2014 10:37:49 GMT

As you know, Bob, Kurt Vonnegut said that we are what we pretend to be and then pretended to be a lovable simpleton. Since we are at most also what we pretend to be, Vonnegut remained a brilliant writer most of the time, but every so often he would say something like “Do not use semicolons. They are transvestite hermaphrodites representing absolutely nothing. All they do is show you’ve been to college.” Not only is the semicolon a useful device for people who do not want to write like lovable simpletons, but it can save lives.

Thanx to Chronicle

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The Importance of Punctuation

Thu, 01 Dec 2011 14:58:56 GMT

1. Commas
* Let's eat, Grandma
* Let's eat Grandma

2. Capital Letters
* helping my Uncle Jack off a horse
* helping my uncle jack off a horse

3. Apostrophes
* a business that knows its shit
* a business that knows it's shit

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Not yet commatose

Thu, 30 Jun 2011 10:12:18 GMT

Oxford has not abandoned the Oxford comma; its PR department has, thus perhaps demonstrating that a PR department is a PR department anywhere.

Thanx to Lisa Gold: Research Maven et al.

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Dash it all!

Tue, 24 May 2011 20:54:10 GMT

The case against dash abuse.

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Commatose

Fri, 25 Mar 2011 10:20:18 GMT

In the proud tradition of Bill Cosby's COME ON PEOPLE, Tails Magazine suggests Rachael Ray's secret ingredient.

Thanx to Making Light et al.

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Punctuation slash

Fri, 22 Oct 2010 20:19:31 GMT

Leaving out the serial comma is forgivable, but only when it produces something this funny.

Thanx to papersky

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