If anyone comes round

[GryphonMage]

I'll be here. Praying for relief from my boredom.

[Spades]

Boo.

[GryphonMage]

EEEEEK!

[GryphonMage]

Soo...this is slow. I can't believe they still haven't fixed everything.


Check that. I can believe it. Because they suck. Bunches and bunches and bunches of suckage.

[Spades]

Indeed. Slow. It's not a chat room after all. Maybe we should try an on-topic forum conversation?

How about this? The semi-colon: what good is it?

[GryphonMage]

hmmm
Semicolons....were good for getting my grades marked down. *waves her fist at the sky* curse youcomma splices, curse you all!

[Spades]

The only reasonable use I can come up with is for lists. Otherwise, I try to avoid them.

Apparently there is another use for semi-colons, which I learned about from Eats, Shoots, and Leaves; it seems it is possible to use them between sentences that are related; you don't need a period, just a semi-colon.

I've never seen this usage before and I don't particularly like it.

[GryphonMage]

Ah. MY lit teacher was found of that usage. It was one of his most favorite things. Aaaaaannnnd


I'm going to lunch. I'll probably be back by the time you reply.

What did you do this morning besides ponder the usage of semi-colons? Perhaps...research footnotes?

[Spades]

I haven't researched footnotes, but I was pondering them. I like footnotes. They're a great way of putting asides in the text without interrupting the flow of the text. In fact, I like the aesthetics of this so much that I actually -- brace yourself -- prefer to use endnotes for citation. A small, simple ¹ or a [1] looks much less ugly than a huge (Bush, G.W., Why I'm Too Stupid To Be President, pp. 76-80). The only problem is that you can't cite the specific pages as easily. Perhaps there can be a compomise like ^{1, pp. 76-80}. In any case, most things I would cite in my writing would be short articles; including a page number probably isn't necessary to help the reader find the cited section. (Evil semi-colon usage!)

[GryphonMage]

*Applauds your skilled semicolon usage* wow. Its like magic! Hey good news. Sort of. It may not be my computer, but is a network problem that isn't allowing me to connect. So someday, possibly soon, it iwll work again.

mmm chicken

[Spades]

Now that I'm using it like this, I can't stop; semi-colon usage really is addicting! Help!

[GryphonMage]

*comma splices you for you own good* Am I going to have to out you in a twelve step program??

[Spades]

No m'am.

So, what is your favorite and least favorite punctuation? What kind of citation style do you like? And what do you think about putting end punctuation outside of quotes?

[GryphonMage]

My favorite is periods. Because they are so versatile. I also like ellipses...don't you?

My favorite style of citation is MLA.

I say that punctuation should be outside of quotes because any other way is just funny looking. Well sort of. hehe.

I also like long walks on the beaches and drinks with little umbrellas.


Also, dude.My sunburn hurrrts!


Which style of citation do you prefer? I bet you like APA.

[Spades]

I already said I like endnotes. Of course if I ever tried to use that on an academic paper I would be jumped by a gang of professors and drawn and quartered.

Between APA and MLA, I actually like MLA. It's what I learned in high school. I had to use APA in college, but I never really got used to it.

Yes, I like ellipses. I thought that would be obvious...

And hurray for putting punctuation outside of quotes! Another interesting thing I found out from Eats, Shoots, and Leaves is that the insistence on putting punctuation inside the quotes is an American thing. The British usage is much smarter. I feel better about ignoring what I've been taught, although I will be keeping an eye out for that roving gang of liberal arts professors.

There's a mental image for you...

And here. Have a drink with a little umbrella.