Notice

Jon Henley on the fate of the semicolon. The debate on the value of the semicolon goes on. Some authors love it, some hate it. Why is this discussion so divisive? The semicolon is just a misunderstood grammatical outsider with a split personality -- sometimes a comma and sometimes a period -- that wants to be left alone.

Here are some quotes from the article. First, Guillemette Faure:

It's true that computer programmers use an awful lot of them, mainly as separators. And that's surely the last step on the line before it's reduced to a mere email emoticon.

Obviously Mr. Faure has not heard of ML. Next, George Bernard Shaw to TE Lawrence, on the Seven Pillars of Wisdom:

You practically do not use semicolons at all. This is a symptom of mental defectiveness, probably induced by camp life.

Err, childish? Next, Kurt Vonnegut:

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. They are transvestite hermaphrodites, standing for absolutely nothing. All they do is show you've been to college.

Yikes! I haven't finished thinking about that one. Finally, George Orwell:

I had decided about this time that the semicolon is an unnecessary stop and that I would write my next book without one.

Hm, hard to argue with G.O. on style.