Cheers to the Oxford comma

"I found a great many pieces of punctuation and typography lying around dormant when I came along - and I must say I had a good time using them." >>Tom Wolfe


It's official: shrug, dismiss, ignore punctuation at your own peril.

As reported in Time magazine, a dairy in Maine will pay its drivers a whopping $5 million "after a judge ruled that the lack of one Oxford comma in a list of tasks legally exempt from overtime pay meant their work wasn't covered by law."

So there.

If you're confused about commas, keep this definition in mind. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the Oxford comma is the "optional comma before the word and at the end of a list. The Oxford comma can be used to clarify the meaning of a sentence when the items in a list are not single words. Example: These items are available in black and white, red and yellow, and blue and green."

Looking for more information about our evolving language? Check out A World Without Whom: The Essential Guide to Language in the Buzzfeed Age by Emmy J. Favilla, a Buzzfeed copy chief. Favilla opens the debate by declaring the Oxford comma the "cilantro" of punctuation and a "bad boy." The book also tackles wide-ranging topics such as writing about sensitive matters, social media, and a list of British profanity.  


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