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Pedants' corner
Original poster

The Semicolon

45 replies

IorekByrnison · 04/04/2008 13:47

In today's Guardian.

Don't you just love the minestrone of bollocks that pours out of Will Self when asked to comment on this type of thing:

"Prose has its own musicality, and the more notation the better. I like dashes, double-dashes, comashes and double comashes just as much. The colon is an umlaut waiting to jump; the colon dash is teasingly precipitous."

OP posts:
Bridie3 · 04/04/2008 13:48

What is he on?

MrsBadger · 04/04/2008 13:50

[notes down phrase 'minestrone of bollocks' for future use]

[though possibly not in a professional context]

No19 · 04/04/2008 13:58

I always think the colon dash very Jane Austen.

Original poster
IorekByrnison · 04/04/2008 14:02

No19, you surely mean Colonel Dash. The rake!

OP posts:
Ellbell · 04/04/2008 14:05

LOL. I just saw this in the paper and my first thought was 'I must link to this on Pedants' Corner'.

FWIW, I am pro-semicolon. Anyone else want to declare on one side or the other?

(MrsB - am wondering if I could get away with writing that on a student's essay. Do you think they'd report me?)

MrsBadger · 04/04/2008 14:08

I think you may have to rephrase without the 'bollocks'

a minestrone of ignorance
or of nonsense
or of specious prattle?

Personally I'm still repeating to myself 'Stop hogging the high horse!' from Wednesday's less/fewer thread...

No19 · 04/04/2008 14:08

LOL I use them all the time, especially in lists and where I am using examples in triples or more, but I DO always have a sneaking suspicion that I am being lazy.

Original poster
IorekByrnison · 04/04/2008 14:09

I am pro. The objections all seem very silly.

OP posts:
Original poster
IorekByrnison · 04/04/2008 14:10

Yes, Mrs B, I did consider minestrone of nonsense, but I felt that Will Self was a special case.

I do quite like his books though.

OP posts:
No19 · 04/04/2008 14:11

Sneaking suspicion - there's a cliche.

midnightexpress · 04/04/2008 14:11

Ahem. What is a comash?

stuffitllama · 04/04/2008 14:12

Hi Iorek you sound like Miss Prism today!.. I personally (mn usage) dislike semicolons; they are untidy.

stuffitllama · 04/04/2008 14:13

While I'm here I want to say how much I personally hate "I personally". As opposed to "I someoneelseally"? What is wrong with "I".

Original poster
IorekByrnison · 04/04/2008 14:13

I will take that as a compliment, stuffit.

I have no idea what a comash is! I assumed it was some obscure bit of punctuation, but perhaps he just made it up.

OP posts:
No19 · 04/04/2008 14:14

Comma with a dash coming after it,-

I don't know why it's comash, stupid makey-uppy name, when colon dash is just colon dash :-

midnightexpress · 04/04/2008 14:15

And when might one use a comma with adash after it? It's hideous.

stuffitllama · 04/04/2008 14:15

Didn't know that.. yes very JA
I like them

No19 · 04/04/2008 14:16

Actually to be very picky should probably be an em dash - the long one - rather than an en dash - the shorty. But my keyboard Does Not Compute.

Ellbell · 04/04/2008 14:16

Oh... yes... I feel a 'minestrone of specious prattle' coming on...

UnquietDad · 04/04/2008 14:17

I think we need a dash of Victor Borge.

Original poster
IorekByrnison · 04/04/2008 14:18

It is unfortunate that it is now impossible to look at a semicolon without seeing a winking face.

Stuffit, I have the same issue with "to be honest". I don't mind personally. You know what it's like on the breast and bottle boards for example: any suggestion that you might be generalising either way and you're liable to be stoned to death. "Personally" and "IME" are sort of like armour.

OP posts:
stuffitllama · 04/04/2008 14:18

I think you're allowed to be very picky here no 19, if not here then where else.. we would all have to cry quietly reading all the umptiness elsewhere

Original poster
IorekByrnison · 04/04/2008 14:20

No19, your expertise is thrilling! I'm very glad to know about the comash.

OP posts:
No19 · 04/04/2008 14:20

I like to see the colon dash in e.g. JA but I don't think I would ever use it. Comash, yuck, and I don't know what a double one is unless you use one at each end of an interjection? Or something? But yes, hidjus.

stuffitllama · 04/04/2008 14:20

"to be honest" is dreadful
am still in fear of bf threads after joining my first one ..will never go there again

uqd a dash of victor borge? are we punitively punning?

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