To add the comma or not to add the comma

"I've been haunted most of my life by the 'Oxford comma' (adding a comma before the 'and' in a sequential list)," writes Cory of Fried My Little Brains:

OK, like, so I bought Eats, Shoots & Leaves last night. Now I'm reveling in its and it's as contraction and possessive (but never in the latter instance), explanations all rendered in the loveliest, feistiest, most piquant English, and I've never been happier . . . All through school I was taught to use it, then in the early 1990s, when I got into newspapers, I had to unlearn it, only to be required to add it back almost a decade later when I changed jobs.

We ourselves have assiduously avoided the Oxford comma at least since the seventh or eighth grade, when our teacher inculcated Funk and White's The Elements of Style upon our formative mind.  Its (but never it's) call for simplicity and clarity of expression made a big impression that has stayed with us.  The original 1918 edition by William Strunk Jr. before he teamed up with E.B. White is available online at Bartleby.com:

Asserting that one must first know the rules to break them, this classic reference book is a must-have for any student and conscientious writer. Intended for use in which the practice of composition is combined with the study of literature, it gives in brief space the principal requirements of plain English style and concentrates attention on the rules of usage and principles of composition most commonly violated.

[via DeAnn's blog]

Update.  We are mistaken . . . Just checked the online Elements of Style, and it's pro Oxford comma.  We must have learned it somewhere else. Hmmm.

Update II.  We never worked for a newspaper, but DeAnn comments on Cory's post that AP style says no to that last serial comma:

Don't use a comma before a conjunction in a series: The national flag is red, white and blue. Check the comma section in the "A Guide to Punctuation" in The Associated Press Stylebook and Libel Manual.

Comments

[Mark Wallace]

You should know, Sissy, that I hate to reference my own writing (actually, that's not true, I absolutely love it), but both your last two posts have made me feel justified in pointing you to a piece I wrote for Salon some years back which celebrates two books (among others) that these two posts have reminded me of: Denis de Rougemont's 1938 Love in the Western World, and the immortal Dictionary of Modern English Usage by H.W. Fowler. Both great fun. See http://www.salon.com/books/feature/1999/08/17/crackpots/index.html for more.

[ken]

Yes. AP and it's damn lack of comma. I hate it. I work as a copy editor in the fabulous world of journalism and I'd KILL to be able to use that comma. It's all fine and well if you're just listing two or three simple things (dogs, cats and chickens) but sentences get complicated really quickly. Furthermore, when it gets overly long and complicated and you have to use semicolons to separate your items, you ALWAYS use the semicolon before that and. So, nyahhh, AP! NYAHHHH!

But remember: The comma usage in this case is a matter of style, not 'correct' usage.

And since I'm a stylin kind of guy, I always use that comma in non-work-related writing.

[Sissy Willis]

I was LOL reading your Salon piece on "Crackpot authorities," Mark. Like you, I felt "greatly rewarded, and not a little entertained."

"http://sisu.typepad.com/sisu/2004/04/a_good_crackpot.html

[Sissy Willis]

Thanks, Ken, for pointing out that the final serial commas are a matter of style rather than "correct" usage. There is, of course, no accounting for taste.

[Richard Meixner]

I think that the use of the Oxford comma is also a matter of intention on the part of the writer, not only for style, but emphasis (or, even, emFAWsis).

That said, I have a vague recollection from (I assume) one of my English teachers (yes, reading and writing used to be called that-I'm an old(er) f*rt). Namely, a comma is like a pause and can be use to indicate such.

Thus "red, white and blue" can be read "red", pause, "white and blue", whereas "red, white, and blue" can be read as "red", pause, "white", pause, and "blue" (or should it be 'pause and "blue"?). Dang, you're right Ken, it does get complicated.... great link Mark, I was LOL too-"most excellent!"

[Bruce Griffin]

I love how the AP dunderheads don't use the serial comma, but when presented with an analagous list, use what amounts to a serial semicolon:

From http://www.utexas.edu/coc/journalism/SOURCE/journal_links/AP_style.html:

Use a semicolon to set off a series within a series. In this case, use the semicolon before the conjunction. Example: I have lived in Tulsa, Okla.; Daytona Beach, Fla.; Gainesville, Fla.; Houston, Texas; and Austin, Texas.

Shouldn't THAT be omitted by the same rationale?

Bottom line: if they're both "correct" and one is clearer, why would one EVER opt for the less-clear option?

BG

[Sissy Willis]

I totally agree, BG, and always strive for both rhetorical and visual clarity.