Oxford Comma

[billd91]

The thing that always bothered me about this example is Panda's can't shoot guns.

What makes you think the panda is shooting a gun?

 

[Bedrockgames]

What makes you think the panda is shooting a gun?

He probably isn’t shooting a bow either

 

[Cadence]

The thing that always bothered me about this example is Panda's can't shoot guns. So there is never going to be a person who reads that sentence (provided we are not talking about an anthropomorphic panda), and misreads A as B. Also that sentence without the Oxford comma is "The panda eats, shoots and leaves", so even if it is an anthropomorphic panda, there isn't much ambiguity in the sentence without the oxford comma. My feeling is if people want to use the oxford comma in every instance, they are free to do so. I think there is a better argument to be made to use it when it helps avoid ambiguity when context doesn't make the meaning clear (but I also have to admit, I like ambiguity in writing).

 

[Bedrockgames]

View attachment 150139

That is why I said as long as it isn't an anthropomorphic panda

 

[Morrus]

The thing that always bothered me about this example is Panda's can't shoot guns. So there is never going to be a person who reads that sentence (provided we are not talking about an anthropomorphic panda), and misreads A as B. Also that sentence without the Oxford comma is "The panda eats, shoots and leaves", so even if it is an anthropomorphic panda, there isn't much ambiguity in the sentence without the oxford comma. My feeling is if people want to use the oxford comma in every instance, they are free to do so. I think there is a better argument to be made to use it when it helps avoid ambiguity when context doesn't make the meaning clear (but I also have to admit, I like ambiguity in writing).

It's a silly example to make it more entertaining. Don't fixate on the panda. The principle applies to any similarly constructed sentence.

If it bothers you, replace "panda" with another word of your choice. The panda is irrelevant. It's just funny.

 

[Cadence]

It's a silly example to make it more entertaining. Don't fixate on the panda. The principle applies to any similarly constructed sentence.

If it bothers you, replace "panda" with another word of your choice. The panda is irrelevant. It's just funny.

"The vegan assassin..."

 

[J.Quondam]

"The vegan assassin..."

The assassin is a vegan, targets only vegans, or kills only vegetables?

 

[Deset Gled]

The thing that always bothered me about this example is Panda's can't shoot guns.

Can't shoot guns. My brain immediately went to this (NSFW audio):

Spoiler: George Carlin uncensored

George Carlin talks about pandas.

 

[Bedrockgames]

It's a silly example to make it more entertaining. Don't fixate on the panda. The principle applies to any similarly constructed sentence.

If it bothers you, replace "panda" with another word of your choice. The panda is irrelevant. It's just funny.

I understand but that was also just one of my points. My other addresses swapping out the panda with something that could plausibly shoot. I think this example still doesn't really serve as a good argument for always using the oxford comma: "The assassin eats, shoots and leaves" is still pretty clear, without an oxford comma. My point is just a bit on the moderate side of the debate: there isa good argument to be made to use it when ambiguity could be an issue (but I think in most cases, especially when the sentence is going to be in the context of a paragraph within an article, novel, etc, context usually makes it easy to see through any ambiguity lack of the comma might on first glance seem to create.

Also one thing I think worth noting in the oxford comma debate (and I have no dog in this fight myself, if my editor wants to use oxford commas, I go with it, if they don't I go with it, if they allow a blend of oxford commas and none, I go with it), sometimes the intensity of the pro-oxford comma side, almost makes it thrilling to avoid using them just to irritate that crowd a little bit.

 

[Morrus]

I understand but that was also just one of my points. My other addresses swapping out the panda with something that could plausibly shoot. I think this example still doesn't really serve as a good argument for always using the oxford comma: "The assassin eats, shoots and leaves" is still pretty clear, without an oxford comma.

I mean, you can fixate on whatever you want to, of course, but you're being rather distracted from the actual debate by focusing on the decorations.