http://www.slate.com/id/2194087/
; Has modern life killed the semicolon?
By Paul Collins
Posted Friday, June 20, 2008, at 4:51 PM ET

excerpt:
When the Times of London reported in 1837 on two University of Paris law profs dueling with swords, the dispute wasn't over the fine points of the Napoleonic Code. It was over the point-virgule: the semicolon. "The one who contended that the passage in question ought to be concluded by a semicolon was wounded in the arm," noted the Times. "His adversary maintained that it should be a colon."

French passions over the semicolon are running high once again. An April Fool's hoax this year by the online publication Rue89 claimed that the Nicolas Sarkozy government planned to demand "at least three semicolons per page in official administrative documents." Parliamentarian Benoist Apparu was in on the joke—"The disappearance of the semicolon in Eastern France is absolutely dramatic," he gamely proclaimed—and linguist Alain Rey (barely) kept a straight face for a video calling Frenchmen to arms. Reporters were taken in, since, like every great hoax, it was plausible enough to be true. Le Figaro has proclaimed, "The much-loved semicolon is in the process of disappearance; let us protect it," and there was even a brief attempt at a Committee for the Defense of the Semicolon—a modern update on the Anti-Comma League that France had back in 1934. French commentators blame the semicolon's decline on everything from "the modern need for speed" to the corrupting influence of English and its short, declarative sentences. It's a charge leveled for years stateside, too, with Sven Birkerts bemoaning the Internet's baleful influence on semicolons a decade ago.

Has modern life killed the semicolon?

I use them occaisionally. I'm not sure if I use them correctly, but I do use them.

Well I still love them; you don't have to hit Shift either.

Semicolons are used in excess in programming languages. They aren't dead. They just moved out of town.

You are absolutely right.
 
I use them a lot more when I'm using certain coding languages such as HTML

That's another thing, I use the colon way more than the semi-colon, I think their places on the key-board ought to be reversed.

And while I'm at it, I think @ ought to be available without that pesky shift button.

That's another thing, I use the colon way more than the semi-colon, I think their places on the key-board ought to be reversed.

. . .

The sad fate of the semi-colon in prose is more a result of the semi-colon being superfluous -- I much prefer the urgency and momentum imparted by the use of a dash to the sometimes puzzling ambiguity of the the compromised semi-colon. Is
it a colon? Is it a period? Is it a comma with attitude? WTF is it doing there?

Au contraire: I believe the COLON is making a comeback . . .

The dash should NOT be overused. This rule was handed down by the English police from atop the mountain they live on.

Personally, I simply adore the dash and its urgency. I have even taken license in adding more than one or two at times --- depending on degree of rage at the moment.

The semicolon is the most complicated stop (semi-stop?).
I tend to use the semicolon when listing long successive thoughts that seem to be related - when the comma just won't do. Of course, when the semicolon gets tricky is when you are making the decision as to whether to use the semicolon or the dash; and that is why the dash has taken over the semicolon. The urgency is here ---- right NOW.

As for me, I seem to have an addiction, to of all things, the comma!

As for me, I seem to have an addiction, to of all things, the comma!

In French, it is used to distinquish elements within a list.

In French, it is used to distinquish elements within a list. However, it is discouraged as a way to link related clauses or phrases together in lieu of using the proper article défini or personnel pronom. Instead, the use of que or qui is encouraged. But that's the French. Mais non?

I love them all. The colon and comma let me: list the innumerous faults of the current administration, argue issues point by point, and most importantly, backup my own opinions with links. The semi-colon lets me be concise; no conjunctions required. Dashes can drive points home - strong opinions deserve strong punctuation. Unfortunately, I can't find the dash on my keyboard, so its cousin, the hyphen has to do, but it has a well-deserved functioon too. The other mark I can't seem to find is the one for interogative exclamatory rhetoric. WHERE THE HELL IS IT?! I'd gladly give up my "Scroll Lock" for something that would get much more use. All the others? Well, I couldn't operate unix or program in perl without them, so thanks, tilde, hash, braces, brackets, parenthesis, tick, back-tick, arrows, caret, asterik, and ampersand.

Oh man I love the semi-colon; it really ties the room together.

Of course in any discussion of the current administration, all of these devices can be useful:


............/´¯/)
.........,/¯../ /
........./..../ /
..../´¯/'...'/´¯¯.`·¸
./'/.../..../.....:^.¨¯\
('(...´...´.... ¯_/'...'/
\.................'...../
.'\'...\.......... _.·´
...\..............(

...came to feel that they were just a device that I was using to impart an appearance of order to run-on sentences...

Semicolons are used in excess in programming languages. They aren't dead. They just moved out of town.

...

(Oh my gosh, is this another pick at Bushwa. If it is, I know nothing, because I don't usually read Bushwa's writing. I plead innocence.)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You boys really need to stop the passive aggression, period, end of sentence. ...

Huh, talk about passive aggressive.

You two need to make up.

In this regard, I am a paying member of MOVEON.org.

Now the exclamation mark. That is a piece of punctuation that has really made up its mind!!!

Who two? Me and the semicolon? I'll never talk to that slut again!



. . .

Catballou--LOve your monicker, and thanks for the info, although I doubt I will ever remember it; it is interesting. Nevertheless when I was college I was always told that I have too many run on sentences and I thought this prof. is crazy, he doesn't know what he is talking about, oh he's a big English Prof. and thinks he knows it all, well he doesn't, and I don't care what he thinks anyway, because I write like I think, which is in one long run on sentence.

I hate wishy-washy punctuation marks. It should decide to be a full colon or none at all. This flip-flopping punctuation marks strikes me as being a bit too McCainish for my tastes.

Now the exclamation mark. That is a piece of punctuation that has really made up its mind!!!

Only one more needed!!!

Here it is;

I'm much more into inventing my own punctuation, what some call "bad punctuation." Witness the hyphen in the line above. As long as the damned punctuation marks are INSIDE THE QUOTATION MARKS (always, always, always), I'm happy.

Personally, I am a huge fan of the ellipsis...

Oh man I love the semi-colon; it really ties the room together.

Personally, I am a huge fan of the ellipsis...