that awkward moment

[some_stars]

...when you're typing up some cover copy from the back of your Oxford World's Classics edition of a book, and you realize that said copy doesn't use the Oxford comma.

Of course, I know there's no actual reason it should (aside from being CORRECT AND TRUE I mean)--in fact the official Oxford style guide is against it, and I'm pretty sure normal people just call it a serial comma these days--but it really tilted my brain for a second.

Comments

[giandujakiss]

I am so disappointed in the Oxford style guide! I am passionately, perhaps irrationally, committed to the Oxford comma.

[some_stars]

It's not irrational at all! There are many situations where it's extremely useful for clear communication, and virtually none where it impairs clarity in any way. There's just no good reason NOT to use it.

[giandujakiss]

The intensity of my feelings on this matter is the part where it gets irrational.

I hate their rule so much - they basically say, "don't use it, unless it would be confusing not to use it." As a matter of aesthetics, I hate the asymmetry of such a rule; as a matter of practicality, I hate that it requires the writer to gauge whether the sentence is confusing. If they thought it was confusing without the comma, no one would ever write a confusing sentence. BUT THEY DO.. Which means most writers are not good judges of when the lack of a comma renders a sentence confusing.

*annoyed*

[some_stars]

Well, there's a very large population of people who will write something, wonder "should I use a comma there?", and completely bypass any part of their brain that would check for whether a comma is NEEDED, in favor of the part of the brain that checks for whether a comma is Allowed By The Authorities. Really the whole question of whether punctuation (or whatever) is "needed" for sense-making purposes rather than because it's a Rule just never enters into a lot of people's minds when they write something. So I can see how that advice would be useful, in theory anyway. But I agree that most people wouldn't be able to determine necessity anyway, even if they were to try.

[weaver]

I will forever champion the Oxford comma. EVEN IF OXFORD WON'T.

I JUST LOVE IT OKAY.

[some_stars]

I understand COMPLETELY. It's just correct, dammit!

[giandujakiss]

The Oxford comma is safe! http://www.npr.org/blogs/monkeysee/2011/06/30/137525211/going-going-and-gone-no-the-oxford-comma-is-safe-for-now?sc=fb&cc=fp