Many thanks for all the kind words about the Semicolon Appreciation Society!
Here are some followup links, in case you just can't get enough semicolon in your online diet:
Some letters to the NYT about the original story [Thanks to RLE for the link]
Trevor Butterworth sent me a link his longer article in the Financial Times, back in 2005, in which he outlines a purported American bias against the semicolon. (I believe Americans use fewer semicolons per capita, but more as a nation, in a kind of reverse image of our carbon footprint …)
The Semicolon's Dream Journal [exactly what it says on the box]
Labels: linkiness, semicolons
Erin McKean's Other Blog 
Erin, darling,I just HAVE to point out that in your answer to the question about copyrighting word coinages, you used a comma where a semicolon should go: “Real lawyers should feel free to weigh in, that’s what blog comments are for.”You’ve got two independent clauses and no conjunction there. Perfect semicolon territory–otherwise, it’s what is called a comma splice.Your loving fellow lexie,Wendi
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Wendi should *totally* wear a cape — she is that much of a grammar superhero, and I mean that!Admiringly,Paula
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Thanks for these links;— I had no idea the semicolon was atrophying.I use lots of semicolons myself. But of even great interest to me is the correct use of the archaic semicolon-mdash and coma-mdash that I find in older literature. I’m not even sure what they are really called. The semicolon-mdash seems to be used as a composite semicolon and colon. There also seems to be a use of the archaic mdash instead of the colon— to set off lists; just like that.Example of some of this from english translation of Letters of Pliny:”Oh! you have behaved cruelly, grudging your friend, —had almost said yourself ;—and upon second thoughts I do say so ;—in this way: for how agreeably should we have spent the evening, in laughing, trifling, and literary amusements!”
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Wendi is always right (as usual). Luckily she makes being always right look good. 🙂
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I love semicolons. This post makes me extremely happy.
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Or,I love semicolons; this post makes me extremely happy. I really am the only person I know who uses them on a regular basis.
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I think semicolons are wonderful, and sinbce I read so much on punctuation, I realize armies have fought over mistaken punctuation…. Thank you for fighting the good fight! DICTIONARY, n. A malevolent literary device for cramping the growth of a language and making it hard and inelastic. This dictionary, however, is a most useful work.(Ambrose Bierce, The Cynic’s Word Book)
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Here is the French version : le comité de défense et illustration du point virgule http://www.kozlika.org/kozeries/post/2005/11/15/362-comite-de-defense-et-d-illustration-du-point-virgule
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I’m a convert. I used to disrespect the semicolon. Now I see the error of my ways.
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I’m feeling validated; I’ve been diffident over my semicolon usage since others use them infrequently.
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As a Programmer Ive used the semicolon a lot, much more than the colon.@Scott:Peculiar setup the ; -I myself find the mdash dreadful; it interrupts my reading flow.
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I can’t believe how many so-called writing experts slander the very-useful semicolon. I, for one, find it a very appropriate tool (when used judiciously, of course). I actually had an otherwise respected colleague, with a master’s degree in technical communication tell me I shouldn’t use it because no one understands what it means anymore. Nonsense! The language should be dumbed down just because *people* have been??
“Avoid it like the plague” indeed!
-Dw
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But Vonnegut used a semicolon in his stamteent—how bizarre—he must have been getting old when he said that.Now, my favorite piece of punctuation, the —you know, the one that’s longer than a regular dash—used as an alternative to parenthesis or commas.I like my em dashes closed, with no spaces between it and the words it separates. I see too many — of these — floating around the internet and it drives me nuts.
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