Comma Clash

Harold Ross, editor of the New Yorker, was notorious for carpet bombing the copy with commas. James Thurber fought valiantly for readability over correctness. But Ross was the boss. And the commas continued.

This is not to say that Thurber championed sloppy language. On the contrary, he said,

Precision of communication is important, more important than ever, in our era of hair-trigger balances, when a false, or misunderstood word may create as much disaster as a sudden thoughtless act.

Gracie Allen may have put it best, "Never place a period where God has placed a comma."

An ongoing discussion in LinkedIn's LinkEds & writers group: "Commas used in a series; has something changed?" has some members crying for a period. Enough already.

I offered my own humble opinion, but the battle rages on.

While many of us wish the Wicked Wolf would have spared Grandma and eaten Grammar, there is no denying the importance of proper punctuation. It is so important that the great Victor Borge invented a method of making speech as clear as writing by adding visual cues. He called it "Phonetic Punctuation."

Serial Killer Turns Himself In

An editor sent me a frantic email:
Nobody cares about the comma but us. So it’s up to us to decide.I am editing and I just don’t know what to do. I want the comma, but I don’t want the pieces either of us edit to be inconsistent. For other editors, I can always overrule their comma preference, but I respect your opinion on the sequential comma. So what will it be. Sequential comma or no?
My gut reaction was to say no to the sequential comma. I always took it as a rule that the last comma in a series was superfluous.I checked my Strunk & White. Sure enough, they say to leave out what they call the "serial comma."

Rule #2:

In a series of three or more terms with a single conjunction, use a comma after each term except the last.
Thus write,
red, white, and blue gold, silver, or copper
He opened the letter, read it, and made a note of its contents.
This comma is often referred to as the "serial" comma. In the names of business firms the last comma is usually omitted. Follow the usage of the individual firm.
Little, Brown and Company Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette

 Still, after such a plea, I thought perhaps I shouldn't be so hasty. And on closer look at Strunk & White's examples, it sure seems to me that those did use the serial comma.

I googled a bit and I found that most authorities (except for AP and other journalists) say to use the serial comma. I was also surprised to discover that the sequential or serial comma was also known as the "Oxford comma."
The Oxford label gives the serial comma a whole new aura. Kind of like the scarlet cap and gown Mark Twain wore at his daughter's wedding.... the same cap and gown he wore when the Degree of Doctor of Literature was conferred upon him by Oxford University.
I wrote the editor that I am guilty: a serial killer of commas. I turn myself in to the lexicographic authorities.
But, in case I start backsliding, I advised that she keep a box of commas on her desk and pop one in whenever I leave it out.