The Oxford (or Serial) Comma
Posted on July 23, 2010 | Categories: Question of the Week, Technology | Tags: opinions
8
I am home from my trip to the East Coast! Overall, it was a very enjoyable trip. I visited friends and family and did a lot of sightseeing, as well as shopping. The best part was when I got together with my friends from school and we were all reunited – the last time we’ll be reunited for a year, as I’m going abroad for the year and most of them are going abroad for at least a semester.
Anyway, now that I’m home again, time to return to my regular blog programming. Stephen Colbert interviewed Vampire Weekend on his show in June 2010 and the following interview took place:
Stephen: Can I take you to task for something, for a second?
Everyone: Sure.
Stephen: In one of your songs, you have the lyrics: Who gives a fuck about an oxford comma?
Ezra: Yes.
Stephen: I’m here to tell you, I do. Shall we explain what an oxford comma is to the people?
Ezra: Oh. It’s always a little tough to explain… an oxford comma would be a comma that you’d put before the and or the or, at the end of a list.
Stephen: Red, white, and blue.
Ezra: Exactly.
Stephen: I mean, red comma white comma and blue.
Ezra: Do you really need the comma?
Stephen: Yes, you do need the comma.
Ezra: Why do you need the comma?
Stephen: Because otherwise it’s: red, white and blue. Our flag is not red, white and blue. That’s red and baby blue!
Ezra: There are situations where it’s necessary.
Stephen: All situations. All of them except it’s, like, a law firm. That’s every other— No, listen, have you heard of Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style?
Ezra: Yes.
Stephen: Heard of that? I refer you to… (opens book) page fucking two: In a series of three or more terms with a single conjunction, use a comma after each term. (snaps book shut in Ezra’s face)
Ezra: Yeah, but I mean -
Stephen: Does that sting? That’s E.B. White, you heard of him?
Ezra: Respect to Strunk and White, but it’s just protocol. It’s not— there’s no real reason.
Stephen: Yeah, it’s language. Why don’t you just take all punctuation out, be like the Romans?
Ezra: Sometimes we do.
Stephen: Really?
Ezra: I mean, we’re a band. Y’know? (shrugs)
Stephen: I weep for our nation. But, I do enjoy your music. Will you stick around and do one of your songs that is properly punctuated?
Ezra: We’ll see.
Stephen: All right, we’ll be right back with a performance from Vampire comma Weekend!
I always used to use an Oxford comma, but then when I started taking journalism classes in college I had to stop using it because AP style forbids it. Still, I prefer an Oxford comma over none; it’s what I was taught all throughout school (until college) and I think sentences look neater with one!
Question of the Week: Do you use an Oxford comma?
Clem
I already adore Colbert, but this just makes me love him even more, which I didn’t know was possible.
I feel like I’m the only person who actually has a strong opinion about the serial comma. Like you, I think it makes things look neater and flow better. I don’t see why you wouldn’t use one – if every other item in the list has a comma after it, the second to last one should too, dammit! I always read sentences without differently, too, without a pause. And I think if you’re going to say they’re good in some cases, you should just aim for consistency and use them all the time.
I am kind of a massive nerd abotu the serial comma.
Tess
I admit it: I don’t like the Oxford comma. :P The Oxford comma looks a little off, because it messes up the flow when I read. I read fast, and for some weird reason, I always stop when there’s an Oxford comma, or when there’s no punctuation, a grammar mistake, etc.
I do, however, agree it should be use when you have a long list of items. E.g.: Manda, to me, is funny, intelligent, amazingly mature, and most of all: prompts comments from me. (Ignore the structure~!)
Meg
The Oxford comma is my best friend.
I know it’s not friends with the AP Stylebook, but I’m so used to it that my eyes pause when it’s not there, and that just messes up sentence continuity.
Rose
OO, interesting post, I always think about the oxford comma situation, even though I never knew that that’s what it was called.
I ALWAYS use the oxford comma, and if I’m editing text that doesn’t use it, I’ll correct it because it drives me INSANE if there’s no comma after the ‘and’…
However, according to wikipedia, the serial comma (sorry, I like that name for it better) isn’t normally used in Canada, which is weird. I was definitely raised to use it….
I remember our teachers giving us an option, but also saying that they’d rather if we DID use it but they couldn’t force us one way or the other…
Manda
In lower school, my teachers always stressed using the Oxord/serial comma. They did say that not everyone used it, but that in my school, all students were expected to use it (our grades would be penalized if we didn’t use it).
Adam
Welcome back!
I’ve used the serial comma for a very long time, and I will continue to use it for a very long time. I mean, obviously Strunk and White is just a style guide, so using the serial comma isn’t a hard and fast grammar rule, but I feel like serial commas make the rhythm of the sentence better, and are less likely to cause ambiguity. Also, I think APA style recommends it, too, which works out well for me.
Krissy
I always use it. It just looks weird without!
Alice
I’d never thought about this before, I used to at school but now I don’t. It’s not really the norm in British English.