13 February 2022
Meme claiming the sentence After beating the Steelers, Tim Tebow thanked his parents, God and Ms. Trunchbull is confusing
A bunch of comments about the use, or lack thereof, of the Oxford comma have been appearing in my Twitter feed as of late, so I thought I’d put my thoughts on the subject here, rather than responding to a multitude of threads.
First, let me state for the record that I prefer to use the Oxford comma. I use it in my writing.
That said, unless I’m working as a copy editor where the house style is to use it, I do not insist that others do so. And I never think that someone who opts not to use it is a lesser writer. That is because whether or not use the Oxford comma is a style choice. Ultimately, it makes no difference.
For those who are uninitiated into the sacred rites of punctuation, the Oxford, or serial, comma is the comma that appears before the final item in a list. Example: the phrase bacon, ham, and eggs uses the Oxford comma; the phrase bacon, ham and eggs does not. It is called the Oxford comma because the house style of Oxford University Press is to use it. Most of the publishers in Britain do not call for its use (which is why Oxford is singled out); while most of those in the United States do call for its use in the material they publish.
For those who insist on its use, as well as for those who insist it not be used, should take note of this last fact. The vast majority of people in Britain and United States get along just fine without a single, hard-and-fast rule. If it truly made a difference, there would be a unified rule.
That said, there are individual instances where the use or lack thereof of the Oxford comma can create confusion. Hardcore advocates love to point these out, but most of the examples they choose to highlight are not really confusing. The instances where genuine confusion can arise are rare.
Meme claiming the sentence I had eggs, toast and orange juice is confusing
One meme that has circulated claimed that the following sentence is confusing:
After beating the Steelers, Tim Tebow thanked his parents, God and Ms. Trunchbull.
The problem with this example is that absolutely no one would seriously entertain the idea that Tim Tebow was the offspring of the supreme deity and Ms. Trunchbull. There is nothing confusing about this sentence.
Another even more absurd example is a meme that claims the following sentence is confusing:
I had eggs, toast and orange juice.
The meme says that this sentence is a claim about eating eggs that is addressed to toast and orange juice. Again, the idea that a person would be speaking to breakfast food is silly. There is nothing confusing about this sentence.
A somewhat more astute example can be seen in a meme that claims that the following phrase is confusing:
the US president, a racist and a misogynist
Meme stating that the phrase the US president, a racist and misogynist refer is confusing
If one is referring to Jimmy Carter or Barack Obama, there is no confusion. No serious person is going to label either of these men as racist or misogynist; the sentence refers to three people. But if the president in question is, say, Woodrow Wilson or Donald Trump, then a reader may legitimately be confused as to what is meant. But note, the confusion results whether or not the Oxford comma is used. Using an Oxford comma in no way guarantees clarity of expression.
The confusion results not because of the present or absence of a comma but because a comma is too weak to support the weight of the meaning. The sentence needs to be recast to take the semantic weight off the comma.
A more mundane, and probably more likely, example is the following pair of sentences:
Alice, Betty’s grandmother and Charles attended the wedding.
Alice, Betty’s grandmother, and Charles attended the wedding.
Both of these sentences can be confusing if one does not know the relationship between Alice and Betty. There is no confusion if one knows whether or not Alice is Betty’s grandmother. What is missing here is context, specifically who the intended reader is. If one is writing to someone who knows Alice and Betty, then the sentence is perfectly clear. If not, then the sentence or passage needs to be rewritten to make the relationship clear.
Go ahead and use the Oxford comma or not, whichever is your preference. Ideally, you should be consistent in your style choice, but consistency is no guarantee of clarity. You can’t expect your readers to remember whether or not your practice is to use the Oxford comma. Unless you’re writing the next Finnegans Wake, it’s your job as writer to make things clear for your readers.
And whichever style you chose, do not admonish others for making a different choice. It’s wrong, pedantic and annoying.
