Transcription:

With the Oxford comma:

we invited the strippers, jfk, and stalin.

[A picture showing a cartoon image of 4 people. JFK, Stalin, and 2 strippers.]

Without the Oxford comma:

we invited the strippers, jfk and stalin.

[A picture showing a cartoon image of 2 people. JFK and Stalin, both dressed in the same stripper outfits as the strippers in the above image.]

  • ramirezmike@programming.dev
    9·
    7 months ago

    thank you! every time I see this I get upset.

    You could just as easily have a confusing sentence with the Oxford comma like this

    “We invited JFK, the stripper, and Stalin.”

    is JFK a stripper?

    It doesn’t matter, it’s the author’s responsibility to write things unambiguously.

    • spujb@lemmy.cafeEnglish
      8·
      7 months ago

      literally! glad to see other like minded souls. 💗

      all this “it never causes confusion” “it always causes confusion”—boi, WHY ARE WE WRITING SUCH ABSURD SENTENCES IN THE FIRST PLACE.

      if your sentence absolutely needs a comma, or absolutely needs to not have a comma to be even vaguely understood correctly, you are bad at writing. it’s not the style guide’s fault, it’s yours. write better damn sentences.