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UserPost

1:58PM
Nov-30-09


martha

martha

Admin

posts 817

http://www3.signonsandiego.com…..cal-words/

Personally, I'd have used a serial comma where I'm described as "too crazy, too passionate and too bullheaded," but whatev.

3:10PM
Nov-30-09


Glenn

Admin

posts 1148

Wow. Do you guys own the movie rights?

I hate getting misquoted and, especially, mispunctuated. Didn't Grant come out against the serial comma? Maybe he was the editor.

10:52AM
Dec-01-09


martha

martha

Admin

posts 817

LOL. I think it's probably that newspaper's style, Glenn. Now that they have to count every penny, I'm sure they're saving a lot by not having to spend that extra ink on an additional comma.

12:07PM
Dec-01-09


Glenn

Admin

posts 1148

Post edited 6:27PM – Dec-01-09 by Glenn


I wonder how much a comma costs in bulk. It has to be under $100 per gigacomma, and most of that is probably fixed setup cost. There's the typing, the storage, the time and manpower of proofing as additional fixed costs. Then there's the paper real estate, as well as the ink as ongoing costs per comma in printing.

Take the New York Times, with a conservative 1000 potential serial commas per daily newspaper — more on Sundays — and a circulation of over 900,000 a day, the removal of serial commas could save over 328.5 billion commas a year. At $100 per gigacomma, that would save the New York Times $32,800 a year.

That's someone's job!

Now, if only we could eliminate the possessive apostrophe — it is, after all, one of the least charitable of the punctuation marks — we could make a real dent in unemployment.

5:21PM
Dec-01-09


SaSoldier

Connersville, IN

Member

posts 16

I have a Flair button on Facebook that says: "Let's eat, Grandpa!
Let's eat Grandpa!
Grammar Saves Lives!"

2:54PM
Dec-12-09


martha

martha

Admin

posts 817

$32,800 a year? That's a lot of news fit to print!

And SaSoldier:

I have a Flair button on Facebook that says: "Let's eat, Grandpa!
Let's eat Grandpa!
Grammar Saves Lives!"

LOL!