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Do you use a serial (Oxford) comma? (kbin.social)

submitted 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) by ThatOneKirbyMain2568@kbin.social to c/AskKbin@kbin.social

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A serial comma (or Oxford comma) is an optional comma used before the last item in a list. For example, "bread, butter, and tax evasion" uses a serial comma, whereas "bread, butter and tax evasion" does not.

Do you use it? Why or why not?

I always use it. I don't perceive any less of a pause between the last two items in a list than between any others, so it feels natural to put a comma there as well. Tbh, I'm so used to it that I usually have to do a double-take when it's not there (since it looks like a grammar error to me at first).

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[–] tiredofsametab@kbin.social 2 points 7 months ago

Yes. Things feel out-of-balance without it to me. However, if the meaning is unclear (something something stripping Hitler and Stalin), I will work around it and/or use other punctuation. I think I have a bit of a weird synesthesia thing going on for written text (English or written code (in the programming sense); I don't have it as much in the other languages I read/write, but it isn't absent there, either).