http://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world...-could-cost-maine-company-millions/ar-BBydYKR

If there were a comma after “shipment,” it might have been clear that the law exempted the distribution of perishable foods. But the appeals court on Monday sided with the drivers, saying the absence of a comma produced enough uncertainty to rule in their favor. It reversed a lower court decision.

In other words: Oxford comma defenders won this round.

“That comma would have sunk our ship,” David G. Webbert, a lawyer who represented the drivers, said in an interview on Wednesday.

The language in the law followed guidelines in the Maine Legislative Drafting Manual, which specifically instructs lawmakers to not use the Oxford comma. Don’t write “trailers, semitrailers, and pole trailers,” it says — instead, write “trailers, semitrailers and pole trailers.”

 

I will stop using commas. I seriously dont want eyebrows like that!

 

The Oxford comma is not right or wrong, it is like any other component in a system, putting one where it is needed helps a written sentence communicate the intended thought and putting one where it is not needed makes a sentence communicate an unintended thought.

A dedication page of a thesis - a school removes the Oxford comment from a Thesis submitted for publication as a matter of editorial style (stupidly)...
Original: - to my parents, Mother Theresa, and the Pope.
Edited: - to my parents, Mother Theresa and the Pope.

Also, as the following image shows, we'll never know the intended thought. The following clearly shows the comma is not good or bad but, rather, a tool that can make the same (similar) words mean different things.

Origins of the following image has been given to several different sources so I won't give any. The source doesn't matter as much as the core message: JFK and Stalin may have been strippers.

 

I didnt know Stalin was a stripper!! I always had suspicions about JFK though .

 

Actually my english is so bad I read them both as meaning the same thing. Sorry for lack of commas but I now refuse to try and use them!

 

Maybe it is just me, but I always got told that if I am changing my train of thought to put it into brackets..
So,
"We invited the strippers, Lenin and Stalin." - talking about 3 different people.
"We invited the strippers (Lenin and Stalin)." - clearly changing between description and names.

However, common sense tells me I should make sure I am been clear when communicating.
So it would not be "We invited the strippers, Lenin and Stalin", it would be "We invited the strippers named Lenin and Stalin".

This is why I hate English.

 

It says alot when so many engineers invite strippers . I wont pass comment on the genders (each to their own and all that ) .

 

It says alot when so many engineers invite strippers . I wont pass comment on the genders (each to their own and all that ) .

Sure, what better way to test the new invention?

 

I always proof read all of my posts before pressing the "post reply" button... and even then, I keep coming back and re-read them to test them for clarity.
English not being my birth language, it's not uncommon for me to edit a post up to three times after publishing.

 

I always proof read all of my posts before pressing the "post reply" button... and even then, I keep coming back and re-read them to test them for clarity.
English not being my birth language, it's not uncommon for me to edit a post up to three times after publishing.

My posts are usually in English - not my native language. My native language is something close to what was spoken in the movie, Fargo.

 

My posts are usually in English - not my native language. My native language is something close to what was spoken in the movie, Fargo.

Haven't seen it... but now I will, I'll look it up in Netflix

 

Haven't seen it... but now I will, I'll look it up in Netflix

You'll want the 1996 movie (good), not the 2014 tv series (lame).
Coen Brothers, William H. Macy and an intro that says... "Based on a true story"