The Oxford comma is the comma before the final item in a list, which led Gabrielle’s third grader to a fine question: if Oxford is a famous school in England, is the comma its mascot? Oxford University doesn’t really have one, but the family’s imagined grudge match between the Oxford Commas and the Cambridge Apostrophes gives punctuation a halftime pause. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “A Third Grader’s Sign Correction Leads to an “Oxford Comma” Mascot”
On our Facebook page, Gabrielle told us about a dialogue with her third grader who said,
“That sign is wrong. There should be a comma before that last item.” And Gabrielle said,
“I agree, that last comma is called an Oxford comma.”
Her kid said, “Why?”
And Gabrielle said, “Well, Oxford is a famous school in England.”
And her third grader replied, “And their mascot is the comma?”
And so she says, “Now my family is imagining the bitter rivalry
between the Oxford commas and the Cambridge apostrophes.”
Well played, commas, well played.
And at halftime, there’s quite a pause.
“That’s great. We’re having all kinds of discussions like that on our Facebook page,
so come over and find us. Check us out on Twitter,
and you can always call with your language questions, 877-929-9673.”
