Wednesday, March 02, 2011

The Semicolon Saga

I'll just say, if anyone doesn't know, that I'm a fan of the semicolon. It's the perfect punctuation mark for people like me, who aren't decisive or forceful enough to favour the fullstop all the time; the semicolon is delightful in connecting closely related sentences where a comma is inappropriate.

So what's the Semicolon Saga all about?

It arises from my habit of using the semicolon wherever I see fit; I was not apprised, apparently, that it may cause a problem in the EssAyeEff.

While presenting a paper to my department meeting, the deputy head of department remarked, "I'm impressed that you used a semicolon in an EssAyeEff paper!" My initial reaction was that of excitement, that I might have found another fan of the humble and unappreciated semicolon, but this was sadly to be followed by crushing disappointment and indignation; he continued on, "Please take it out. Change it to a comma." I could hear the definitive fullstop between those two short phrases, not a semicolon, which would have been just as suitable.

I took a minute to mourn the semicolon as I reluctantly hit the delete button on the word processor.

It's okay, dear, lovely semicolon, you possess too much sophistication and grace to allow yourself to be sullied in such banal writing.

Avaris / 3/02/2011 08:53:00 PM

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