Fun with semicolons

Just had to post a link this New York Times article about semicolons. It seems a lot of people are just gushing about the fact that a sign in the New York City subway system uses proper punctuation. I guess I would do the same if I ever saw a sign in Denver that used an apostrophe correctly.

I'm one of those who avoids semicolons. I prefer short sentences. Short sentences smack people in the eyes. They hit hard. They hit fast. They're remembered. I believe they have more impact than long, drawn-out sentences that go on for hours like one of those passages in a Faulkner novel, which I really never could understand; I tell my students to avoid semicolons for this very reason.

One of the few uses of a semicolon I endorse is when a list contains items that include commas, like the following example from the Associated Press Stylebook, edited by Norm Goldstein:

He is survived by a son, John Smith, of Chicago; three daughters, Jane Smith, of Wichita, Kan., Mary Smith, of Denver, and Susan Smith, of Boston; and a sister, Martha Smith, of Omaha, Neb.

Notice that the above sentence includes state abbreviations after Wichita and Omaha but not after Chicago, Boston or Denver. That's because, according to AP style, the latter three cities always stand alone in datelines and copy. Also notice that the abbreviations are not the same as those used by the U.S. Postal Service. AP style is tricky, but it's so much fun. Semicolons might be tricky, but they're no fun; maybe that's why I tell my students to avoid them.