vive le semicolon;
Apparently, France is trying to send the semicolon the way of the dodo. This Guardian article offers both sides of the ancient punctuation debate. Read the whole article; it’s totally worth it.
Jeanette Winterson: PRO-semicolon
“I like them - they are a three-quarter beat to the half and full beats of commas and full stops. 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.”
Richard Hugo: ANTI-semicolon
“If you really want to hurt your parents, and you don’t have the nerve to be a homosexual, the least you can do is go into the arts. But do not use semicolons.”
Gertrude Stein: Could care less
“I use it. I’ve no feelings about it - it’s just there. People actually get worked up about that kind of shite, do they? I don’t fucking believe it. They should get a fucking life or a proper job. They’ve got too much time on their hands, to think about nonsense.”
*cough*
My question for France: Ok, so you don’t like it in sentences… whatever. But how do you expect The Internet to express itself properly with out ; ) ?
![[del.icio.us]](http://images.del.icio.us/static/img/delicious.small.gif){kind=small}
I wholeheartedly agree with the semi-colon being sorely missed in internet usage… Imagine how many statements will be horribly misunderstood with the lack of a semicolon to accentuate:
“Hope to see you soon.”
vs.
“Hope to see you soon ;)”
“Oh well… i wish there was some way i could get you to reconsider.”
vs.
“Oh well… i wish there was some way i could get you to reconsider ;)”
“I do enjoy a slap and a tickle every now and then.”
vs.
“I do enjoy a slap and a tickle every now and then ;)”
…well, actually, that last one pretty much means the same thing any way you end it– but you get my drift!
internet-user A: Sure, I’ll meet you in person - unless of course you are a stalker!
internet-user B: Yeah, I’m definitely a stalker. ;)
internet-user A: hahah you are so witty.
vs.
internet-user A: Sure, I’ll meet you in person - unless of course you are a stalker!
internet-user B: Yeah, I’m definitely a stalker.
internet-user A: oh, um… nevermind then.
I like semicolons— though not as much as I like dashes. I really like dashes. Yo, I believe you confused Irvine Welsh and Gertrude Stein but I suppose they’re similar enough. Jeanette Winterson is wonderful, but also pretentious, so of course she likes semicolons. Jonathan Franzen is a shit head— we both like semicolons but that is the only thing we have in common, you sad elitest bastard . George Orwell is awesome and unpretentious and does not like semicolons. but I like them. Here, my anti-authoritarian comrade, we differ.
Its worth pointing out, however, that while Orwell might have a distaste in common with these French anti-semi-colon thinkers, all these Brittish and American writers are coming from a different place than the French. These French thinkers are reactionary, xenophobic and scared of the Anglocization of their language. While I’m all for cultures preserving themselves against cultural annihilation and global capitalism, I’m more sympathetic to say, the Six Nations, than France on this issue. The Normans invaded Anglo-Saxon country thousands of years ago and mixed lots of silly frency-latin words in with what used to be a perfectly phoenetic, Germanic, and strong Olde English language. Proto-france already linguistically colonized proto-Britain and thus the US as well. So, right back atcha, France!
Just when I finally got the balls to start using the semicolon on a regular basis! That figures. It’s always the French.
mickey - true, true.. and you know, I would completely write France off if they weren’t responsible for crepes and Bastille Day, respectively.
I am going to petition Jerry Lewis to change his name to J;rry L;wis. That’ll test the French resolve, and quite possibly sink the country into civil war.
-j. - french civil war!??? I really hope that will give us a Bastille Day Part DEUX.
meredith: Points-vergule de la patriiiiie, la jour de gloire est arrivee…