In Defense of the Serial Comma

Often when I am doing copyediting work, I encounter use of the serial comma, or non-use of it, as the case may be. You may know this punctuation mark as the Oxford Comma, as its use has been heralded by Oxford University for many decades. It may also be referred to as the Harvard Comma, which nomenclature I must admit to preferring as it reminds me of my alma mater, Harvard, and I relish the reminiscences it brings to mind.

Nick Morrison photo (Unsplash)

Whatever name we give it, the serial comma is useful in making the meaning of a sentence crystal clear. (I’m using this term to avoid having to choose between these esteemed institutions of higher learning, Oxford and Harvard, a task that I feel unqualified to undertake.)  For example, in the following sentence, I have written it first without the serial comma, and then with the serial comma. (This is a common example used by serial comma enthusiasts, yet I cannot keep myself from using it here.)

1.       1. Highlights of his global tour include encounters with Nelson Mandela, an 800-year-old demigod and a dildo collector.

2.       2. Highlights of his global tour include encounters with Nelson Mandela, an 800-year-old demigod, and a dildo collector.

In the first sentence, we are affronted with the idea that Nelson Mandela was an 800-year-old demigod and a dildo collector, as well. How disrespectful! I am appalled that I could even write such drivel. Without the last comma, the serial comma, ‘Nelson Mandela’ is modified by an appositive, ‘an 800-year-old demigod and a dildo collector’. What nonsense! In the second sentence, we can readily see that our global traveler met three people, Nelson Mandela, an 800-year-old demigod, and a dildo collector.

Of course, even though using a serial comma in this sentence makes it much more apparent what the author is trying to convey, sometimes, as Benjamin Dreyer, the noted Random House editor, asserts, it may be a good idea to rework sentences for even more clarity (Dreyer 2019). For example:

3.       Highlights of his global tour include encounters with an 800-year-old demigod, a dildo collector, and Nelson Mandela.

 I much prefer the third example with the rearranging of items in this series so to lessen the association of South Africa’s heroic champion against apartheid, Nelson Mandela, with demigods and dildos, an unlikely and disparate group of individuals, to be sure. I wonder what editor we can thank for this example of the serial comma, or Harvard comma, as I like to call it. Call it what you like; just use it if you value clarity of expression. Am I clear?

Dreyer, Benjamin. Dreyer’s English. New York: Random House, 2019.

African American History Month: February, 2020

The month of February is designated as African American History Month. How did this celebration of the history and heritage of African Americans get started? In 1915, historian Carter G. Woodson, traveled to Chicago for a national celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of emancipation, sponsored by the state of Illinois. This exhibition, which showcased the achievements of African Americans, was attended by thousands of African Americans from all across the country. Inspired by this event, Woodson and a few others formed the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (ASNLH). They started to call for a Negro History Week (Black History Month Origins).

Carter G. Woodson

 In 1925, Woodson, in an effort to extend the popularity of this History Week, sent out a press release announcing Negro History Week in February, 1926. He chose February because Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass, were born in February, and he wished to build on the tradition of celebrations of the birthdays of two famous activists for African Americans. (Black History Month Origins).

Woodson wanted this commemorative history week to be more than about these two men, however. He wanted to focus on the achievements of black men and women who had contributed to the advance of human civilization. In the 1920s Negro History Week caught on in the country—in schools and before the public, and it continued to become more and popular in many schools and communities (Black History Month Origins).

Mary McLeod Bethune was an important African American educator, civil and women's right advocate, an adviser to President Franklin Roosevelt, and founder of a college. She urged Woodson to establish the Negro History Bulletin, which promoted this new holiday.  In the 1960s, Black History Month replaced Negro History Week in many localities. In 1976, fifty years after the first celebration, the Association promoted shifts from a week to a month and from Negro history to black history. Since the mid-1970s, Black History Month was proclaimed by every American president. It is often referred to as African American History Month, due to the changes in current politically appropriate designations for the month (Black History Month Origins).

Mary McLeod Bethune

 According to the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People), here are some good ways to celebrate African American History Month:

• .      Visit a Black History or Civil Rights Museum in your locality
• .      Spend time with a Black elder in your community
• .      Read a book by a Black author
• .      Sign up to mentor a Black child in your community
• .      Learn about an unsung hero/shero of Black history
• .      Explore Black Music
• .      Call out racism and prejudice in your community (Celebrate Black History Month).

 I urge you to choose one or more of these actions to pay tribute to the culture and contributions of African Americans. Carter Woodson, the founder of this celebration, wanted to have a Black History Year. That sounds like a good idea to me.

Some Oddities in the English Language

English is a crazy, mixed up language; it’s a wonder that any of us have ever learned it! My students, who were learning English as a second language, often commented to me how difficult English is to learn because it doesn’t follow the rules a lot of the time. English has words that are spelled the same and are pronounced differently, and sometimes opposite terms mean the same thing, and many other odd constructions.

Consider a few of these oddities:

1. Why are there no eggs in eggplant, nor ham in hamburger, and neither apples nor pine in pineapple? English muffins aren’t English, nor are French fries French.
2. If the plural of tooth is teeth, shouldn’t the plural of booth be beeth? One goose, two geese. So—one moose, two meese? One mouse, two mice means one house, two hice?
3. If teachers have taught, why haven’t preachers praught? 
4. How can people recite at a play and play at a recital?
5. Why is a slim chance and a fat chance the same thing, while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites?
6. Why can a house burn up while it’s burning down? Forms are filled out by being filled in. An alarm that has gone off is still going on.
7. People can sit on a bough and cough through the night as they re-read a red book to say they’ve re-read it.
8. Why, when stars are out, they are visible, but when the lights are out, they are invisible?
9. Why had the cops sought the sot?  The photographers knot all fought for the shot—and not just for naught.  Do the police think there was proof of blood on a wood floor?
10. Why doesn’t Buick rhyme with ‘quick’?

While all these irregularities may confound those new to the language, and even some more proficient speakers at times, at least it is easy to see that English was not invented by computers. Because of the terms taken from other languages,and nonstandard adoption of words into the lexicon,  the language  is sometimes confusing. However, English still holds a certain, creative charm amid all its idiosyncrasy.