[Ads-l] So that's why!

[Wilson Gray]

Wikipedia:

"According to *The Oxford Companion to the English Language*, "Commas are
used to separate items in a list or sequence ... Usage varies as to the
inclusion of a comma before *and* in the last item ... This practice is ...
known as the ... Oxford comma, because it is part of the house style of
Oxford University Press."

Somehow, I've lived almost my entire life without ever knowing that this
particular comma had a name. Then, having discovered that it had at least
two names, I had no idea as to why it had the name, "Oxford comma," since I
somehow had long been living under the mispreapprehension that _non-use_ of
the serial comma was a peculiarity of British English that, like "go
missing" and "at the end of the day" - this latter used even by the boyz in
the hood, much to my annoyance and great chagrin - was corrupting American
English.

OTOH, I've found a new peeve: the pronunciation of _finally_ as "finely,"
not only in casual and non-standard speech, but by *everybody*! Except
*Canadian* announcers and voice-overers on the Justice Network. The
criminals are primarily Americans, but the announcers are all Canadians who
are still trained to a standard and are really a treat for the ears.
Somehow, Canadian raising is merely interesting and "bean" and "a gain" are
pleasing to the ear.

Geoff Nathan, a former suite-mate, back in the day - would you believe the
1971 LSA Summer Linguistic Institute? - may recall why.

-- 
-Wilson
-----
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-Mark Twain

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org