[Ads-l] The NYT: comma > semi-colon

[Robin Hamilton]

Further:

Wilson's original NYT cite: "... in Chicago; St. Louis; Orlando, Fla.; and
suburban Henry County, Ga."

 I'd do as:

              “... in Chicago, St. Louis, Orlando (Fla.), and suburban Henry
County, Ga.”

 ... where by the time we reach suburban Henry County, the context disambiguates
the final comma.  

"... Henry County (Ga.)." strikes me as a little picky, even though the parens
should possibly be there for the sake of consistency with "(Fla.)".

[Though as a poor benighted Brit, I may be getting my geographical abbreviations
in a twist.]

Robin Hamilton

> 
>     On 06 November 2016 at 05:21 Robin Hamilton
> <robin.hamilton3 at VIRGINMEDIA.COM> wrote:
> 
> 
>     I'm with Wilson, and note that the Wiki entry cited has "may". Something
> about
>     those semicolons in that context itches my brain.
> 
>     Semicolons there may be logical but they sure ain't rhetorical.
> 
>     Given that punctuation is a newfangled intruder gifted to us by Caxton,
> the
>     conventions may still be in the process of settling.
> 
>     Praps why the Sainted Emily used dashes.
> 
>     Robin Hamilton
> 
>     >
>     > On 06 November 2016 at 01:39 Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
>     >
>     >
>     > I'm with Ben on this one. If individual items in a series include commas
>     > (eg, city, state), semicolons are used as separators.
>     >
>     > On Nov 5, 2016 6:37 PM, "Barretts Mail" <mail.barretts at gmail.com> wrote:
>     >
>     > > > On 5 Nov 2016, at 15:22, Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
>     > > >
>     > > > On Sat, Nov 5, 2016 at 6:00 PM, Barretts Mail
>     > > > <mail.barretts at gmail.com>
>     > > > wrote:
>     > > >
>     > > >> it would have made it so that St. Louis is the state in which
>     > > >> Chicago
>     > > >> is
>     > > >> located.
>     > > >
>     > > >
>     > > > I don't agree.
>     > > >
>     > >
>     > > Okay, but that is standard usage.
>     > >
>     > > As an easy-to-find starter, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comma: <
>     > > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comma:> "If the individual items of a
>     > > list
>     > > are long, complex, affixed with description, or themselves contain
>     > > commas,
>     > > semicolons may be preferred as separators, and the list may be
>     > > introduced
>     > > with a colon."
>     > >
>     > > BB
>     > > ------------------------------------------------------------
>     > > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>     > >
>     >
>     > ------------------------------------------------------------
>     > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>     >
> 
>     ------------------------------------------------------------
>     The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

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