Comma Coma

I hope not to bore you into oblivion with this, but today, I would like to pay tribute to one of my favourite bits of punctuation.  No, I'm not talking about the semicolon, the ellipsis, or even the exclamation point.  While each of these amuse, fascinate, tantalize, and titillate, they cannot measure up to the prince of pause.  However, I am not writing this to elevate the common comma, noble though it may be.  Instead, there is one comma so beyond its time as it lavishes lists, spectacularizes seriality, and masters multiplicity.


I am of course talking about the Oxford comma.  A better gift that Britain has given the world, I cannot name.  That said, commas in general are rather fascinating, as they can change the entire meaning of a sentence by their insertion or omission.  Be sure to check out some of the examples in the above link for both clarifying sentences as well as creating ambiguity.  I find it amazing how such a slight pen stroke can influence a sentence without altering a single word.  Maybe I'm alone in my wonder, and maybe I'm just a gigantic dork, but I'll leave that for you to decide.


-FSG