T he liberal media has recently uncovered the CIA Style Manual, and we are, frankly, in the gravest danger. A matter of national security—the threat of the serial comma—must end. Also known as the Oxford comma, this insidious misleader—like the Cambridge Five—can serve no good role influencing Agency dispatches. Although the Company prudently favors semi-colons, it recklessly “endorses” the serial comma, and this will inevitably result in additional faulty intelligence.

Semicolons are not hard to use; however, they can be risky in the wrong hands. We are more comfortable with commas because they are cheap, easy to deploy and don't call much attention to themselves whether present or missing; semicolons, on the other hand, tend to call a halt to everything and say, "look at me!" Why? Because they show a good author paying attention to a sentence, its structure and rhythm, its balance and weight--unless they show that a poseur has turned up garishly dressed for the wrong party.

Serial Killer

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