{"id":508,"date":"2008-02-20T05:00:13","date_gmt":"2008-02-20T13:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rightreading.com\/blog\/2008\/02\/20\/semi-buzz\/"},"modified":"2008-02-24T21:27:20","modified_gmt":"2008-02-25T05:27:20","slug":"semi-buzz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rightreading.com\/blog\/language\/editing\/semi-buzz\/","title":{"rendered":"Semi-buzz"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Recently there has been an uptick in talk about semicolons. Witness:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/henrykisor.com\/blog\/2008\/02\/18\/hooray-for-the\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.rightreading.com\/blog-images-08\/arabic-semicolon.jpg\" alt=\"arabic semicolon\" class=\"left\" height=\"135\" width=\"86\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/henrykisor.com\/blog\/2008\/02\/18\/hooray-for-the\/\">Hooray for the ;<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/indiamos.wordpress.com\/2008\/02\/18\/i-say-a-subterranean-semicolon\/\">I say! A subterranean semicolon!<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/legbamel.blogspot.com\/2007\/09\/fanboys-and-semicolon.html\">FANBOYS and the Semicolon<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/mr-verb.blogspot.com\/2007\/07\/colbert-on-punctuation.html\">Colbert on punctuation<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.dailyblogtips.com\/how-to-use-punctuation-correctly\/\">How to Use Punctuation Correctly<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.newsobserver.com\/grammar\/index.php?title=punctuation_lives&amp;more=1&amp;c=1&amp;tb=1&amp;pb=1\">Punctuation lives<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/mcsweeneys.net\/2006\/2\/8roeder.html\">The Elements of Spam<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.translatorscafe.com\/cafe\/MegaBBS\/forumthread7223msg139189.htm\" title=\"translators talk about semicolons\" target=\"_blank\">Semicolonoscopy<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>What does this signify? I&#8217;m not sure. Could it be another sign of the trend to the literate class becoming a cultural elite, eager to differentiate itself from the hoi polloi?<\/p>\n<p>Well, maybe that&#8217;s reading too much into what might just be a random flare-up of semi-colonitis. In any case, I like this exchange from the Colbert link above.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Tulugaq: <\/strong>Kurt Vonnegut&#8217;s take on it was a little less warlike and more of a mandate: &#8220;Here is a lesson in creative writing. First rule: Do not use semicolons. They are transvestite hermaphrodites representing absolutely nothing. All they do is show you&#8217;ve been to college.&#8221; Me, I like the poor semicolon and the colon alike, so I guess I just have to be a conscientious objector. Sorry, Steve Colbert.<\/li>\n<li><strong>The Ridger, FCD: <\/strong>How can a hermaphrodite be a transvestite? Do they dress like asexuals?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>For anyone with market aspirations in today&#8217;s publishing climate, Vonnegut&#8217;s advice remains sound. But what would Flaubert be like without the semicolon as the hinge on which his crafty sentences swing?<\/p>\n<p>.<\/p>\n<p><em>Shown: Arabic semicolon from <a href=\"http:\/\/www.brill.nl\/default.aspx?partid=131\" title=\"brill semicolon\" target=\"_blank\">brill.nl<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Recently there has been an uptick in talk about semicolons. Witness: Hooray for the ; I say! A subterranean semicolon! FANBOYS and the Semicolon Colbert on punctuation How&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[6,19],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rightreading.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/508"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rightreading.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rightreading.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rightreading.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rightreading.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=508"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rightreading.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/508\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rightreading.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=508"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rightreading.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=508"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rightreading.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=508"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}