Commantary

The Economist:

AT the Macmillan Dictionary Blog, Stan Carey has a nice post on commas. For the life of me I've never understood why some people think that their personal comma preference is linguistic law. There are those who think the "Oxford comma" is the last barricade protecting civilisation from the barbarians, and those who are equally convinced of the opposite. I, for one, have always been with Vampire Weekend on the subject, though I omit the Oxford comma as per The Economist's style (a work habit that has become a personal one).

Marty Peretz, a former editor and owner of the New Republic, insists that commas must always come in pairs. He once made his staff count the commas in an entire issue of the magazine, telling them that the number had better come out even. (The incident, which is not fiction, was made famous in the film "Shattered Glass".) Where Mr Peretz got this ridiculous view is beyond me, I confess. (Need I point out the fully grammatical, single comma in that last sentence?)

Posted by Jim Zellmer at July 9, 2012 1:46 AM
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