Earlier this year, mayhem erupted (in certain circles) when a rumor that the Oxford style guide was no longer in favor of its namesake serial comma hit the press. Since moving to Australia, I've noticed that none of my coworkers use a comma after the word before "and" in a series -i.e. "please invite Ron, Belinda and Steve to the meeting." I think it looks weird and makes it seem like the last two on the list are a pair rather than separate, serial entries. Apparently the Oxford comma is standard in American English but only used to avoid ambiguity in British English. But I think it always makes the meaning clearer, and I refuse to stop using it! The sandwiches on sale are ham, tuna and peanut butter. See what I mean? Long live the Oxford comma!
5 comments:
testing the comments as someone was having trouble
I am a recent convert to the Church of the Oxford Comma. This is one of those cultural values we're all expecting you to force on the Australian people.
Damn straight (though I never knew it as the "Oxford" comma, having been apprised of its correctness via an old edition of Strunk & White.) It pisses me off to no end when I see otherwise fine writers omitting it.
Since you and I have the same schooling, I used the Oxford comma forever. However, after 9 or so years of living in the UK I finally gave up on it and stopped using it. I am now trying to get rid of it from my American boss's writing. I think things generally work without using it. Happy Hannukah, Christmas(,) and Kwanzaa to you!
See, it's strange but I am born and raised American. I haven't even lived in a foreign English speaking country before and I learned in school that using Oxford commas was in bad style. All through high school we got points off for it.
I actually thought this was American standard.
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