The Atlantic | 20 June 2016
I do. I care.
I care for the sake of the clarity, flow, and
musicality of prose. I care because words matter, punctuation matters,
and there is no other logical position besides being pro-Oxford comma. I
care because I like jokes about my parents, God, and Stalin. (Actually,
in that case, the joke only works if you take out the Oxford comma,
which I refuse to do on principle.)
Unless you’re writing for a particular publication or drafting an
essay for school, whether or not you use the Oxford comma is generally
up to you. However, omitting it can sometimes cause some strange
misunderstandings.
I love my parents, Lady Gaga and Humpty Dumpty.
Without the Oxford comma, the sentence above could be interpreted as
stating that you love your parents, and your parents are Lady Gaga and
Humpty Dumpty. Here’s the same sentence with the Oxford comma:
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