[Vwoolf] [The Washington Post] Opinions | This punctuation mark is semi-dead. People have thoughts—Woolf sighting

[Nigel Rockliffe]

Hi Karen:

Thanks for Wapo piece. Actually, I'd already read it (thanks to your Wapo invite) and was about to flag it, but of course you got there first.

Frankly, I've never understood the hullabaloo about semi-colons. My take is, if you don't like it, don't use it; no one's forcing you. Me? I like it. Often  it can replace a coordinating conjunction to produce a cleaner, zippier text. It's also good for lists where a comma is ambiguous (does it separate two elements or specify a single one?).

Now for a pet peeve. Why not have comma-fied versions of question and exclamation marks? that is, replace their dots with commas. Unnecessary, one might think. Not so. There are two instances in this email alone, quite uncontrived. Would a full stop do? Yeees, but it would be like using a chisel as a screw-driver: it does a lousy job and wrecks the chisel in the process.

— Nigel (from Juan Dolio, DR)

Nigel Rockliffe | 3 Mulberry St | Richmond Vic 3121 | Australia | +61 3 9429 2903
________________________________
From: Neverow, Vara S. <neverowv1 at southernct.edu>
Sent: 29 June 2025 21:45
To: Karen Levenback <kllevenback at rcn.com>; vwoolf at lists.osu.edu <vwoolf at lists.osu.edu>; Nigel Rockliffe <nigel.rockliffe at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Vwoolf] [The Washington Post] Opinions | This punctuation mark is semi-dead. People have thoughts—Woolf sighting

Both are good. Thanks!

Vara Neverow
(she/her/hers)
Professor, English Department and Women’s and Gender Studies Program
Managing Editor, Virginia Woolf Miscellany
Southern Connecticut State University
New Haven, CT 06515
203-392-6717
neverowv1 at southernct.edu

I acknowledge that Southern Connecticut State University was built on traditional territory of the indigenous peoples and nations of the Paugusett and Quinnepiac peoples.
________________________________
From: Vwoolf <vwoolf-bounces at lists.osu.edu> on behalf of Karen Levenback via Vwoolf <vwoolf at lists.osu.edu>
Sent: Sunday, June 29, 2025 12:40:52 PM
To: vwoolf at lists.osu.edu <vwoolf at lists.osu.edu>; Nigel Rockliffe <nigel.rockliffe at gmail.com>
Subject: [Vwoolf] [The Washington Post] Opinions | This punctuation mark is semi-dead. People have thoughts—Woolf sighting

Wrong article the first time. Look toward the end of this one. Cheers (and bon voyage)… Karen Levenback Opinions | This punctuation mark is semi-dead. People have thoughts. No other bit of punctuation causes such a fuss. Opinion by Mark Lasswell
Wrong article the first time.  Look toward the end of this one.
Cheers (and bon voyage)…
Karen Levenback


Opinions | This punctuation mark is semi-dead. People have thoughts.

No other bit of punctuation causes such a fuss.

Opinion by Mark Lasswell


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