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Ode to the Serial Comma

Photo Credit:
My Brain is Made of Merchandise.

(Caution, grammar geek alert.)

In our Editorial Community at work today we were debating the serial comma* (of course we were...what else would writers and editors be doing?), and the conversation turned toward how Chicago has dubbed Thursday "Talk Like Shakespeare Day."

I took about 6 minutes and combined the two topics into these little ditties, which I call "Ode to the Serial Comma":

Ode to the Serial Comma, Pt. 1

‘Tis but thy serial comma that is my enemy;
Thou art punctuation, though not an agreed upon one.
What’s agreed? It is nor placement, nor style,
Nor usage, nor style guide, nor any other part
Belonging to a keyboard. O, be some other keystroke!
What’s in a name? That which we call a comma
By any other name would smell as sweet;
So Writer would, were he not Writer call’d,
Retain that dear perfection which he owes
Without that title. Writer, doff thy name,
And for that name which is no part of thee
Take all thy commas.
--- Kara DeFrias, paraphrasing Juliet in Romeo and Juliet

Ode to the Serial Comma, Pt. 2

He that uses a serial comma is more than a youth
And he that uses no serial comma is less than a man.
--- Kara DeFrias, paraphrasing Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing

* Because God knows the AP Style Guide, Chicago Manual of Style, The Elements of Style (Strunk and White), and even APA can't agree on this one.

RIP Harry Kalas

For many of us, Harry Kalas was the voice of our summers. Sitting on the back porch, listening to him call the Phils games.

Yesterday, the Philadelphia Phillies Hall of Fame broadcaster passed away. Even those of you who aren't from Philly recognize his baritone as the narrator for NFL Films.

I got to meet Harry when the Phils named my grandmother their Phan of the Year. There's really not a lot else that can be said about him, so I'll just share these pictures of the day we met.





(Photos courtesy of Mary Camp.)

A Craptastic Hole You Could Drive a Train Through on Lost

I'm calling BULLDOOKIE on "Lost" tonight...in last week's ep (and the recap tonight) Ben was clearly shot slightly below his heart on his left side.



In the opening scene tonight, the shot was non-fatal and on the right side of his body. Hmphf...

ps - Thanks yet again for the call-out on my lack of posts, Justin. It's. Tax. Season. And I work for the folks who make TurboTax. BACK OFF. To keep you happy, here's a 20% off any 2008 TurboTax Online federal:

http://turbotax.intuit.com/affiliate/intuitrefer

Enjoy! :-)