Martha argues in favor of the serial comma, citing a recent newspaper caption: “The documentary was filmed over three years. Among those interviewed were his ex-wives, Kris Kristofferson and Robert Duvall.” How’s that again? This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Serial Commas”
If you know me, you know my rant about serial commas.
Grant, you know this.
I’ve seen the bloody knife, yes.
I am a big fan of serial commas, that last comma in a series like red, white, and blue.
I want that comma there after white.
Sure, yeah, I agree.
And a lot of people agree with me, but it’s a contentious issue.
Well, I just found another great example of why we should use the serial comma always.
It’s a caption that was in a newspaper article about Merle Haggard.
Okay.
It had a photo of Merle.
And underneath it said, the documentary was filmed over three years.
Among those interviewed were his two ex-wives, comma, Chris Christopherson and Robert Duvall.
Give me the serial comma, please.
The slavish adherence to that Associated Press style book rule means these kind of laughable moments are pretty much an everyday occurrence, right?
Oh, they just, they hurt so much.
And I know that newspapers are trying to save ink and save space, but please spare that little cereal comma.
We need them.
They’re like plankton in the ocean, you know?
They feed the mighty whale.
That’s right.
Thank you very much.
And they feed mini-rants.
That’s right.
Like this one.
If you’d like to rant about grammar, 1-877-929-9673 or send an email to words@waywordradio.org.
