Whew, that was close.

[Glenn E.]

http://www.npr.org/blogs/monkeysee/2011 ... c=fb&cc=fp

Like the author, I don't always use it but it's not just a matter of style. It's necessary for clarity.

[JacobH]

http://www.npr.org/blogs/monkeysee/2011 ... c=fb&cc=fp

Like the author, I don't always use it but it's not just a matter of style. It's necessary for clarity.

I very rarely use one, mostly because I tend to prefer using semi-colons for lists unless they are very short. The continuing blandisation of English is, however, a plague which ought to be stopped and ‟style-guides” such as the one referred to fill me with despair.

Capitals are being abolished everywhere. Foreign words are losing their accents. The æ, em dash and semi-colon are almost all dead. Terrible stuff, really.

[jdaw1]

Foreign words are losing their accents.

This is natural, proper, and of long standing. Foreign words, with usage, become native. They lose their accents, acquire plurals more natural to the new home, and shed their paraphernalia.

The æ, em dash and semi-colon are almost all dead.

• æ: I thought this was a product of the early-Renaissance adoration of the newly-refound classics. Its demise is therefore appropriate to a more technological world, that has less unthinking respect for old ways for their own sake. (Yes yes, I know it’s an Old English letter. But my theory is more beautiful.)
• em dash: is not dead. Not even dying. I use it all the time.
• semi-colon: the semi-colon is alive and well. In English more people use it, and use it well, than ever before in history.

Terrible stuff, really.

Ahh, today’s youth. Terrible.

[Andy Velebil]

http://www.npr.org/blogs/monkeysee/2011 ... c=fb&cc=fp

Like the author, I don't always use it but it's not just a matter of style. It's necessary for clarity.

I don't always use them either. My excuse is a simple one; like many things in a military or para-military organization we have our own style of writing that is short, to the point, and specific to our operational needs. Unfortunately, that doesn't carry over into the business world outside our types of organizations quite as nicely as many people think it should.