I Can't Take It Any More!

Why won't you people start using semi-colons the way they could be used?!?

I can't tell you how many articles I've read lately (well, actually 2 specifically come to mind) where journalists are using direct quotes from people and instead of using semi-colons to let you know that someone said two sentences very close together, they chose to "connect" the two sentences with a comma.

Except that you can't connect sentences with commas. Isn't that the rule? That is the rule I was taught. I didn't go to journalism school, but why would their rules of punctuation be different from the rest of ours?

The thing about the semi-colon is that it's the perfect punctuation mark for our times. It's the perfect thing to use to transcribe speech, because its primary function is precisely what makes speech different from formal writing. Connecting sentences with a semi-colon gives precisely the sense of mini-pause that happens so often when people are speaking. A full stop and capital-letter-to-start-again are too much in such situations, but a conjunction and a comma are frequently simply not appropriate.

Here's my theory on why people in general, and journalism schools in particular evidently, are not recognizing the semi-colon for what it's truly worth:

When we are taught to write, we are taught to write writing; that is, we are taught to write more formally than the way we speak. In a formal context, the use of the semi-colon is a bit intimidating to some people. So it comes off seeming like an obscure, hard-to-use-correctly form of punctuation. And perhaps it is.

But if you can learn how to use it correctly, you discover that it is the perfect solution for the sorts of less formal punctuation needs that have become so prevalent in our times. Our entire culture is becoming less formal. Writing that reads more like speech is becoming more common. Articles in magazines and newspapers frequently include lengthy quotations from subjects. And the semi-colon is the perfect connector for two closely related sentences. Attaching them together with a comma is called a "comma splice", and it's an error!

But the thing is that we've been convinced that the comma is an easy form of punctuation, one whose use is frequently a matter of opinion; how can you go wrong with a comma? The semi-colon, on the other hand, will attract attention, so you have to be sure you're using it correctly if you're going to use it at all.

The thing is, it's just not really that hard. Two sentences that seem like they should go together, but they're both complete sentences in their own right -- if you want them to be closer than a period and capital letter will imply, connect them with a semi-colon. Problem solved, gracefully, efficiently, and correctly!

But no -- someone, some conspiracy out there that has evidently taken over journalism schools, has decided you should just put a comma there instead. Take this comment from Al Franken quoted in a recent NEW YORK TIMES (for Pete's sake!) article about his delayed arrival in Washington: “As sort of life crises go, this is low on the totem poll. But it is weird, it’s a strange thing.”

That last "sentence"? It totally deserved a semi-colon. Why didn't Adam Nagourney give it one? I have no idea. If anyone out there can explain why the arbiters of punctuation have turned against the lithe beauty of the semi-colon, especially in this time when it could have been coming into its own, please share, so I can lodge a formal complaint. My guess is we're just giving into laziness, and that disgusts me.