{"id":9231,"date":"2017-03-24T19:24:07","date_gmt":"2017-03-24T23:24:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/?p=9231"},"modified":"2017-03-24T19:24:07","modified_gmt":"2017-03-24T23:24:07","slug":"mano-vs-the-oxford-comma","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/?p=9231","title":{"rendered":"Mano vs. the Oxford comma"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dave Lull sent me a link<\/strong> to this recent Boston Globe column by Jeff Jacoby<\/a>. It includes a section on the Oxford comma debate, in which he cites the late D. Keith Mano:<\/p>\n

The story reminded me of one of those great exchanges that for years made William F. Buckley\u2019s \u201cNotes & Asides\u201d \u2014 the column in which he regularly reproduced his exchanges with colleagues, readers, and other correspondents \u2014 the best part of National Review. From December 1972:<\/p>\n

\u201cA ukase. Un- negotiable. The only one I have issued in seventeen years. It goes: \u201cJohn went to the store and bought some apples, oranges, and bananas.\u201d NOT: \u201cJohn went to the store and bought some apples, oranges and bananas.\u201d I am told National Review\u2019s style book stipulates the omission of the second comma. My comment: National Review\u2019s style book used to stipulate the omission of the second comma. National Review\u2019s style book, effective immediately, makes the omission of the second comma a capital offense!\u201d<\/p>\n

Among the responses was this lament from D. Keith Mano, a National Review columnist, to the magazine\u2019s managing editor, Buckley\u2019s sister Priscilla:<\/p>\n

\u201cI have read with dismay WFB\u2019s ukase on the serial comma. I can\u2019t do it. No way. It\u2019s just plain ugly. WFB says this is un-negotiable. . . . How serious is he? Can I arrange a dispensation?<\/p>\n

\u201cLook: I\u2019ll compromise. There should be peace in the family. Instead of \u201cJohn went to the store and bought some apples, oranges, and bananas\u201d \u2014 how about if he just buys oranges and bananas? Or a head of non-union lettuce. You see what this sort of restriction leads to. And they ask me why fiction is dying. Erich Segal, I bet, uses the serial comma.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou may tell WFB that, from now on and as ordered, I salute the red and white.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I’m frankly a little disappointed — I’ve been won over to the Oxford comma side, myself. I have the idea the Forces of History are in its favor. Perhaps that was Mano’s fate, to be a genius forever tainted by his associations with questionable movements. Playboy Magazine. Dropping the Oxford.<\/p>\n

Of course, my advocacy of the O.C. probably dooms it…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dave Lull sent me a link to this recent Boston Globe column by Jeff Jacoby. It includes a section on the Oxford comma debate, in which he cites the late D. Keith Mano: The story reminded me of one of those great exchanges that for years made William F. Buckley\u2019s \u201cNotes & Asides\u201d \u2014 the … Continue reading Mano vs. the Oxford comma<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2,17],"tags":[617,1407,2799,2985,3357],"class_list":["post-9231","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-authors","category-writing","tag-d-keith-mano","tag-jeff-jacoby","tag-the-boston-globe","tag-the-oxford-comma","tag-william-f-buckley"],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9231","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9231"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9231\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9231"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9231"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9231"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}