Oxford Comma

[Asher]

You would have to be retarded to think they're calling Nelson Mandela an 800-year-old demigod, and a dildo collector.

Proper grammar must not depend on context of knowing who the noun is to make sense. Replace Nelson Mandela with "Garildo" and its ambiguity is clear.

You should not need to change the whole damn structure because you do not put in a simple comma where it logically makes sense.

[giblets]

You shouldn't have to put in a comma every time just because someone came up with a couple examples where the comma makes it less ambiguous. I mean really, just because writing something a certain way can sometimes be ambiguous doesn't mean that way should never be done. The Oxford comma sometimes makes things more ambiguous.

[Asher]

You shouldn't have to put in a comma every time just because someone came up with a couple examples where the comma makes it less ambiguous. I mean really, just because writing something a certain way can sometimes be ambiguous doesn't mean that way should never be done. The Oxford comma sometimes makes things more ambiguous.

It's extremely rare that it makes things more ambiguous. It's quite common that it resolves ambiguity. It is a net win. Further, the space taken up by a comma in these days of proportional fonts is ridiculously small. It hurts nothing, it can help a lot. Further, it is simply CONSISTENT. Why should the last entry in the list be an exception?

[giblets]

If you had a list of two things I don't think you would use a comma before the "and". Let's be consistent please.

[Asher]

It's not a list of it's two, it's a conjunction.

[giblets]

A conjunction is a type of word. "and" is a conjunction.

[Kitschum]

It's extremely rare that it makes things more ambiguous. It's quite common that it resolves ambiguity. It is a net win. Further, the space taken up by a comma in these days of proportional fonts is ridiculously small. It hurts nothing, it can help a lot. Further, it is simply CONSISTENT. Why should the last entry in the list be an exception?

Why use an 'and' at all? We should all write like this: Today I bought rice, chicken, fish and chips, beer.

[giblets]

Why use an 'and' at all? We should all write like this: Today I bought rice, chicken, fish and chips, beer.

People who want English to be strictly functional should agree with you.

[Asher]

Why use an 'and' at all? We should all write like this: Today I bought rice, chicken, fish and chips, beer.

AGREE.

Unfortunately, this is socially unacceptable.

[Dinner]

Why use an 'and' at all? We should all write like this: Today I bought rice, chicken, fish and chips, beer.

Because the MLA tells you to.

[-Jrabbit]

My opinion on these matters is colored by cold, hard cash. If I use the Oxford comma and double-space between sentences, it will hurt my income over time.

While logic and reason are great, I can't eat them for lunch or pay my mortgage with them.

[rah]

Everyone's opinion is colored differently and should be respected equally. It doesn't impact my bottom line so I have some freedon in this area.

[Lorizael]

Why use an 'and' at all? We should all write like this: Today I bought rice, chicken, fish and chips, beer.

Today I bought rice, chicken, fish and chips, beer, and I picked up my dry cleaning.

[Barnabas]

Don't English speakers have some pansy Royal Academy of the English Language in which a group of old English men tell you how to talk and write?

[Kitschum]

Today I bought rice, chicken, fish and chips, beer, and I picked up my dry cleaning.

Well here you're separating main clauses. It's a bit different. Actually I don't see why you need the comma before the last and.