Where does Veeky Forums stand on the oxford comma?

Should not there be a colon there? "Two rinoceri: Washington and Lincoln"?

Neither is objectively correct. I think it's the preferred option to avoid ambiguity though, it just visually separates the last two items in a list better.

Sometimes the last two items in a list can be misinterpreted if not separated.
Like like when making a list of people that includes those faggots, user and op.

user and OP are a priori faggots, that doesn't need to be explained.

I still could have been referring to separate faggots in addition to user and OP

I fuck with the oxford comma

>mfw I don't go to Oxford and use the Oxford comma in my essays

Sometimes it improves clarity so I use it sometimes

>all these mouthbreathers saying they use the Oxford comma sometimes
You either use it or you don't. You can't pick and choose when you use it. Did you idiots ever go to university or is it summer already?

It's almost like the use of it introduces as many ambiguities as it solves, oh wait it does.

Truly barbaric.

>We invited Washington, Lincoln and the rhinoceri.

WOW.
By using my world class understanding of the english language I have successfully eliminated any confusion involved in the sentence AND saved a whole character worth of space.

wow unless you're a fucking journalist, saving one character is not useful...i hate it when plebs read these "style guides" or "rules for writers" by and for journalists and then want to apply it to non-hack writing

Now its Washington and a band called Lincoln and the rhenoceri

not true, missing and for two item list

I like it, and I'm smarter than you.

>unless you're a fucking journalist, saving one character is not useful
desu Journalism doesn't even need to save characters.

see: liberal media.

>Now its Washington and a band called Lincoln and the rhenoceri
laffed

There is no such thing as non liberal media kid

I cannot even comprehend this post.

I don't get why people don't like it, it provides far greater clarity yet I was graded lower for using it in high school because it is "incorrect"

i was taught not to use it in elementary, and was always corrected for not using it in high school. im now in college and i refuse to use the oxford comma just because some young rebellious part of me grew up learning that specific way.
its sort of like those people who still type on typewriters even though we have laptops now.

This. Both examples are wrong and any arguing over them is stupid.

>its sort of like those people who still type on typewriters even though we have laptops now.
thats.... completely different

English is for rednecks and Chinese

How many times does it have to be pointed out in this thread but neither way is more clear than the other. They both suffer from ambiguities.

Pondering on enterpreneurial Redneck Chinese because nobility wouldn't have any incentive to learn English.

no it isnt. i imagine there's a lot of older writers who grew up writing on typewriters and still use them today, even though we have something better.

Except you're incorrect and the Oxford comma is better by every margin

any examples? i can't think of any

(OP)
you know only plebs write like this

the correct way is :
A, B, C
not
A, B, and C
nor
A, B and C

fuck off Hemingway no one likes you

Could this shitty language be any more pleb?

>To my mother, Mother Teresa, and the Pope
>the serial comma after Mother Teresa creates ambiguity about the writer's mother because it uses punctuation identical to that used for an appositive phrase, leaving it unclear whether this is a list of three entities (1, my mother; 2, Mother Teresa; and 3, the Pope) or of only two entities (1, my mother, who is Mother Teresa; and 2, the Pope). Without a serial comma, the above dedication would read: To my mother, Mother Teresa and the Pope, a phrase ambiguous only if the reader accepts the interpretation my mother, who is both Mother Teresa and the Pope.
Why do people have to lie and pretend the oxford comma has no ambiguities?

good post

>Pointless argument over grammatical ambiguities
Either you are intelligent to infer the author's contextual meaning or you aren't. No amount of commas or lack thereof will change this.
>Cormac McCarthy
>Charles Dickens
If you can't figure out both these styles then you don't belong studying literature. If you think either is superior and not just a different way to tell a compelling story then you're trash.

I know this may be hard to swallow, but you acually can do this. The comma key doesn't spontaneously stick if you try to use the Oxford comma when you normally don't, and, less facetiously, it does nothing to damage your integrity.

We thinking a funk band or...?

I always used that in my native language, didn't even knew it had a name.

>I like when proles see a thing
>proceeds to rant about how he hates thing

That's actually interesting. I've never seen an example like that, which I think is a victory for the oxford comma. Nevertheless, my proposal:

>To my mother; Mother Teresa; and the Pope.

I defy anyone to find an ambiguous case of the Oxford comma once list delineators are replaced by semicolons. This strikes me as still being in the spirit of the Oxford comma and so its victories are the comma's victories.

people like you are the reason i lurk Veeky Forums

sugoii user kun

>oxford semicolon

Is this really a huge controversy? It seems that technical/political writing should aim for utmost clarity, so you should use a comma if it will improve clarity.