Transcription:
With the Oxford comma:
we invited the strippers, jfk, and stalin.
[A picture showing a cartoon image of 4 people. JFK, Stalin, and 2 strippers.]
Without the Oxford comma:
we invited the strippers, jfk and stalin.
[A picture showing a cartoon image of 2 people. JFK and Stalin, both dressed in the same stripper outfits as the strippers in the above image.]
Okay but here’s the argument for why the Oxford comma can be misleading:
We invited the stripper, JFK, and Stalin.
I just changed stripper from plural to singular, and now you could read the sentence as: a stripper named JFK was invited, as well as Stalin
If the strippers name is jfk, you wouldn’t use a comma. The sentence would be “we invited the stripper JFK, and Stalin.”
You would, actually. It’s called apposition and is commonly used in all varieties of English, as far as I’m aware
would that comma need to be there at all though?
Do you have to be consistent about using the Oxford comma throughout your work, or can you use and omit it in various parts for clarity and to more closely resemble the emphasis in speech? This is assuming this is a formal environment and your school doesn’t have a preference for using or omitting it throughout.
Depends on the job, and exactly which English-speaking country you live in. A lot of employers have style guides, and those can mandate using/not using the Oxford comma so you’ll have to pick one and be consistent about it
that kind of sentence structure always trips me up. we should start using parentheses for situations like this. or invent a new symbol, or something. we give commas too many jobs.
We invited the strippers: JFK and Stalin
There’s another version of this showing when using an Oxford comma is a bad idea but I’ve only seen that one once. Help me internet!
The Oxford comma is the difference between helping my uncle Jack, off his horse and helping my uncle Jack off his horse.
'fraid not. That comma isn’t an Oxford comma. Also, the first example needs a comma both before and after Jack, because the commas are parenthetical commas.
Well shit, that does make sense.
Humorous disinformation like this is why there are so many morons when it comes to grammar.
We invited JFK, Stalin and the strippers is the correct way to say it; no confusion, with the proper names first.
The “and” is a substitute for the comma. Keeping them both is redundant.
This is not disinformation. At worst it’s elevating one specific academic opinion over another academic opinion. But the Oxford comma is recommended by many fine institutions, including Oxford University Press, APA, and Chicago Manual of Style (on the other hand, Cambridge and The New York Times prefer to avoid it). To suggest this is disinformation is itself the only disinformation here.
There are, apparently, cases in which it can cause confusion. However, in my experience, this is far less common than cases where it can prevent confusion. Rearranging sentences is, at best, a patch that can work in some situations but not others.
Getting rid of it is inconsistent. Complex lists with comma-separated clauses separated by semicolons always use a semicolon after the penultimate entry, even by people who would not recommend the Oxford comma. It also makes for greater consistency within its own sentence: you see a comma, you know there’s a new entry in the list—much simpler visual parsing.
Getting rid of it breaks the connection between the written and spoken word. “A, B, or C” has a pause after A and after B. “A, B or C” implies there is no pause after B. But there is, if the latter is intended to mean the same as the former.
A or B, C or D, and E or F is much easier than “A or B, C or D and E or F”.
Please mark it as NSFW :)
I don’t believe I can mark it NSFW in any official way, but I’ve edited the title.
If you’re using connect, there’s a toggle if you go to edit your post. Otherwise I’d assume there’s something similar on other clients.
Funny post anyway :)
Yeah I can’t find it anywhere in lemmy-ui unfortunately.
🤓
Last two entries in my search history:
- oxford comma
- lobotomy clinics in sweden
can you mark a NSFW post as NSFW please ty
Funnily enough, in Spanish the Oxford comma is considered incorrect. I always have to remember it whenever I use a comma in English
the oxford comma is incorrect in english too.
Is it? When I learned English in school we were taught to always use the Oxford comma
I’ll fite u
English is less standardized than other languages, maybe in part because of the huge number of native speakers. Different parts of the anglosphere will concider it correct, or incorrect.
omg yeah I hate how u’re supposed to not have a comma before “and”, it looks like this all the time to me x3 I usually do put that comma or find some other way to word what I want to say
u’re supposed to not have a comma before “and”
“Supposed to” is…debated. Some style guides like the Oxford comma, some don’t.
Personally, I’m a strong proponent of it. It never creates confusion, it often removes confusion, and it always does a better job of visually representing natural speech patterns.
It absolutely can create ambiguity, just in different circumstances. The truth is, people should just pick a format they like, and be vigilant about possible ambiguity and reword the phrase if it is unclear.
Agreed. The Oxford comma doesn’t contribute to any confusion. At worst, it’s a bit superfluous. But I always use it because it’s more clear what you’re saying.
Either way you’re at a party with Stalin
I always use the Oxford comma simply because I pause when listing items before the “and”, and so does anyone else I’ve ever heard. It would sound strange not to.
Never before have I had to be so careful in my wording when constructing a meme transcription…
Glad you didn’t use Apple’s select all & copy with this font:
With the Oxford
COMMe
we invited the strippers, jfk
诚附创
stalin.
Without the Oxford
Commo:
we invited the stripers, jfk and stalin.(Typically their OCR is great though.)
Damn, now both Stalin and the Chinese are getting involved‽‽‽ Damn commies.
stop trying to make the interrobang happen it’s not going to happen
Not with that attitude!
Kutsuttu on stripparit, JFK ja Stalin.
Kutsuttu on stripparit: JFK ja Stalin.
No confusion here.
Stupid Sexy Stalin!
