Hey! Semicolon, comma, or period. Pick a side. We're at war.You know where I stand, gentle reader, and there's no need to waste more words on this topic among us. It's like liveblogging the devolution somehow …
Crucial correction … Hey, semicolon: comma or period, pick a side. We're at war. (See the last two comments.)
Kurt Vonnegut's take on it was a little less warlike and more of a mandate:
ReplyDelete"Here is a lesson in creative writing. First rule: Do not use semicolons. They are transvestite hermaphrodites representing absolutely nothing. All they do is show you've been to college."
Me, I like the poor semicolon and the colon alike, so I guess I just have to be a conscientious objector. Sorry, Steve Colbert.
How can a hermaphrodite be a transvestite? Do they dress like asexuals?
ReplyDeleteColon didn't even make his list ... for reasons I don't know. A certain group of people on campus refer to 'question marks' as 'marks of interrogation', carrying on a Gallicism of a famous 20th c. linguist. Colbert should be like that one, but I imagine he hates question marks.
ReplyDeleteAnd I wonder what the answers to the Ridger's questions would be.
Mr. V, you got the punctuation wrong in the quote!!! And we know how imperative punctuation is. I would have written:
ReplyDelete"Hey, Semicolon: comma or period?"
Well, I guess I married you for your verbal abilities, not your punctuation.
Hey, just caught the rerun, and what Stephen actually said was: Hey, semicolon - comma or colon: pick a side. We're at war!"
ReplyDeleteDoh!!! Intonation matters!
ReplyDelete