Uncommon Misconception

Now Let's Talk About Something Really Important

The serial comma.  Or, if you prefer, the Harvard comma.

Having just completed a very interesting editing project (thanks, Whit!), this pressing subject has been on my mind as of late.

For the uninitiated, the serial comma is the one most of us* were taught to use when we were in school.  The one that comes just before the word "and" in a series.  "The boy wanted a bat, a car, and a train for Christmas."  Somewhere along the line, the powers that be (yeah, I'm lookin' at you Associated Press) decided that that particular comma was useless and banished it.  Which is all good and well in a sentence as simple and straight-forward as the one above.

But what happens when you've got complex sentences - particularly those with sub-series within series?  Things can get might tricky when you've got paragraph-long sentences full of various commas, semi-colons, clauses, and dangling whatnots.  Plus, to my mind's ear (yeah, my mind has an ear - yours doesn't?), it just plain sounds wrong to leave it out.  Your pausing anyway, why not have the comma.  When it's missing, I find myself re-reading sentences to understand them correctly.

Can someone explain to me the reasoning behind doing away with the helpful, unobtrusive, and altogether lovely serial comma?  'Cause I just don't get it. 

In other, related issues: Did you know that kids today are being taught to use ONE space between sentences, instead of two?  Again: why?!!  Stop taking away my comfy standard conventions!

*If you are too young to have been taught the serial comma, please be kind enough not to mention it.

Sheesh

Ah, well.  I forgot - a sense of humor and any lightheartedness flies out the window when it comes to politics. 

I thought I'd point out a few things, though, in the selfish interest of self-defense:

1.  I didn't make a single negative comment about her children's names.  Yes, it's implied that I find them different, and, when those two (of the five) are listed together, unfortunate.  Not having the time to do a single scrap of investigating (see previous - and ignored - post about unfortunate computer situation), it left me wondering if she had a Duggar all-same-first-initial thing.  Which is one of those idiosyncrasies that annoys me.  But she doesn't.  And I do quite like two of her other names.  That being said, I've been known to rib relatives and friends about their name choices. (And strangers - I made big, big fun of Gweneth Paltrow and Celebrity Baby Blog is a frequent source of amusing scoffs.)  And they return the favor.  I'm sure many of you find my family's preference for traditional names equally distasteful.

2.  Yes, Hannah is a common name.  It was my one big hang-up about choosing it.  But once Todd heard it suggested, he latched on with a ferocity that could not be dissuaded.  I offered up alternative after alternative, but to no avail.  He argued that we didn't actually know anyone else - friend, family, or relative - who shared the name.  And then one day in an e-mail in which we were discussing names, he said he wanted Hannah so when he came home from work he could say, "Where's my Hanny-Fanny?!"  At which point my heart exploded and I ceased offering up alternatives.

Of course, her first day at Gymboree, amongst a sea of other Hannahs confirmed my fear, but I've come to terms with that.  So much so, that I'll be the first to laugh along and agree at our lack of originality. (Go ahead - write a post about it.  You'll see!)

I'm sure Palin has equally moving, or at least interesting, explanations for all five of her children's names.  And I'm sure she, like me, wouldn't be surprised if some don't share her taste.

 

3. I didn't make a single political statement. Not a one.

4.  Do my politics line up with Palin's?  No.  Nor do mine line up with any other candidate out there at all period.  Not a one.  Many of you either weren't here way back when I first began talking about politics, or have completely forgotten that I've spent the vast majority of my life as a Republican.

But I've been pretty clear about the fact that the Republican platform and agenda began to diverge from my own beliefs in ways that became increasingly difficult to ignore.  Clearly, the issue of choice is one of those that hits close to home for me.  But so do others.  Which is not to say my politics line up with the Democratic platform, either.  I have some pretty big divergences there, too.

5. Yes, it was petty.  Many sarcastic jokes are.   

So if some of you want to read my one-line comment about two of Palin's children's names as some sort of manifesto, well, I can't stop  you.  But I can tell you that your ire is likely a waste of good time a passion... sort of like this post.

Lemme Get This Straight

Two of her sons are named Trip and Track?

Trojan. And Not the Kind You Might Think.

Right smack in the middle of a nice windfall of work, and preparing for the booth at the church thing, and getting my photography Web site up, and recovering from the horror that is food poisoning-followed-closely-by-a-first birthday party, something invaded my computer - my teetering, fragile, tenuously-grasping-the-edge computer.

A freakin' trojan virus.  It took me more than six hours - SIX HOURS! - that I really did not have at my disposal yesterday to rid (I think) myself of it.  I've learned more than I ever cared to know about my computer and it made me long for the good 'ol days when I could disconnect, move, reassemble and reconnect my whole machine and peripherals in a matter of two hours and some change. 

Potentially good things are brewing around here, though.  Which is good, because we could use some through-and-through good news around these parts.

I hope you spent your Labor Day Weekend doing something at least moderately more fun than I.

Signs You Live in the Middle of Nowhere

1. Veterinary care is ten times more accessible than human medical care.

2.  Directions to your home involve any of the following:
a. watching your tripmeter for specific mile markers
b. descriptions of metal gates, the signs they bear, and/or lock combinations
c. admonitions that "if you see ____________, you've gone too far."

3. Number of times you've googled a creepie crawlie to check for venomous status exceeds two times in one week.  (Yeah, I'm looking at you, you creepy bastard!)

I'm sure more telltale signs will become apparent as we go...