If a petition concerning this ill-thought and poorly understood essential element of grammatical style materialises, please to add my name to it. Anyone who denies its necessity knows next-to-nil in the department of elegance, brevity, and communicatory beauty.
Writerly life would take a back-seat to the PCeity (a.k.a. the Punctuation Clowns or Cabal); clear writing would lose a stalwart go-to semi-pause; and, most tragically, we'd all be consigned and resigned to vetters' prison for the duration (not to mention the fact most nil-skilled authors abuse it mercilessly).
Thus, this petition should not only lobby for the preservation of the semi-colon, it should also argue those seeking its erasure or banishment ought to be taught to deploy it correctly; as a corollary, they'd be attasked with learning the difference between "it's" and "its," just be / causes both.
BTW, suddenly, I fell in love with your linguistic gorgeosity to the Nth degree in the Wiman 'view . . . good on both of you . . .
I've spent the last twelve or so hours accumulating a gigantuan store of semi-colons, more than I shall need in a lifetime so, if it does indeedly die, you can count on me to fork some over (for a small fee, natch <*G*>).
How many? Well, I used to have 82% free disk space; now, I'm down to 71%. So . . . I am abso-deffo doing my part to preserve this essential point-virgule.
You'll recognise me, BTW, by my lack of disguise . . .
As long as I draw breath, the semicolon will never die!
ReplyDeleteGood for you, Frank. I, too, pledge my fidelity to this wondrous combination of period and comma.
ReplyDeleteIf a petition concerning this ill-thought and poorly understood essential element of grammatical style materialises, please to add my name to it. Anyone who denies its necessity knows next-to-nil in the department of elegance, brevity, and communicatory beauty.
ReplyDeleteWriterly life would take a back-seat to the PCeity (a.k.a. the Punctuation Clowns or Cabal); clear writing would lose a stalwart go-to semi-pause; and, most tragically, we'd all be consigned and resigned to vetters' prison for the duration (not to mention the fact most nil-skilled authors abuse it mercilessly).
Thus, this petition should not only lobby for the preservation of the semi-colon, it should also argue those seeking its erasure or banishment ought to be taught to deploy it correctly; as a corollary, they'd be attasked with learning the difference between "it's" and "its," just be / causes both.
BTW, suddenly, I fell in love with your linguistic gorgeosity to the Nth degree in the Wiman 'view . . . good on both of you . . .
Good news!!1!
ReplyDeleteI've spent the last twelve or so hours accumulating a gigantuan store of semi-colons, more than I shall need in a lifetime so, if it does indeedly die, you can count on me to fork some over (for a small fee, natch <*G*>).
How many? Well, I used to have 82% free disk space; now, I'm down to 71%. So . . . I am abso-deffo doing my part to preserve this essential point-virgule.
You'll recognise me, BTW, by my lack of disguise . . .