our government is commatose

[pmv]

Apart from this song

I was barely aware of the class-war that apparently rages around this esoteric bit of punctuation
(trivially easy to come up with examples of the potential ambiguities of meaning that can arise both from using it and from _not_ using it, but turns out it has some sort of role as a class-signifier)


But it seems that the new boss of our collapsing health system thinks this is a priority issue, way ahead of trivial matters like, say, the near impossibility of seeing a F$*$*$*$ doctor.

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/therese-coffey-tells-nhs-staff-083855471.html

 

[IronWing]

I had no idea that use of the "Oxford comma" was a class issue other than separating the literate from the illiterate.

 

[biostud]

Just heard a podcast about the situation in the UK the title was: The Queen is dead, the crisis lives

 

[nakedfrog]

This seems like such an extremely British issue.
I feel if I were in a position that reported to her, I'd find ways to work in even more Oxford commas and see how she likes them apples, pears, and kumquats.

 

[Stokely]

Could be worse, you might get a governor who actually does stuff. Mine is Desantis. No governor at all with nothing getting done would be preferable, millions of terrified old white people here disagree.

 

[Bitek]

Who gives a fuck about an Oxford comma?

These cruel English dramas. All her diction, dripping with distain.

 

[pmv]

I had no idea that use of the "Oxford comma" was a class issue other than separating the literate from the illiterate.

Which are you saying are the 'literate' and the 'illiterate'? The Associated Press or the US government?

As far as I am aware there's no agreement between different 'style guides' on whether one should use it or not - for every case where not using it creates ambiguity there's one where _using_ it does. I don't even know if I use it or not - probably sometimes I do and sometimes I don't. But considering our health services are close to collapse, ny main point is that I think a new minister for health ought to have more important things to worry about. I already have a negative impression of this Truss-appointee, this pedantic nonsense does not improve it.

 

[WelshBloke]

Being at the front line of the collapse of the NHS I'm filled with confidence that our new overlord is concerned about the big issues that are troubling the service at every level. I have the utmost confidence that her impeccable attendance to details of grammar will solve the crisis we are going through.

 

[IronWing]

Which are you saying are the 'literate' and the 'illiterate'? The Associated Press or the US government?

As far as I am aware there's no agreement between different 'style guides' on whether one should use it or not - for every case where not using it creates ambiguity there's one where _using_ it does. I don't even know if I use it or not - probably sometimes I do and sometimes I don't. But considering our health services are close to collapse, ny main point is that I think a new minister for health ought to have more important things to worry about. I already have a negative impression of this Truss-appointee, this pedantic nonsense does not improve it.

As an American, I believe that when it comes to offering advice on national healthcare systems, I should kindly shut the F’ up.

 

[Moonbeam]

Which are you saying are the 'literate' and the 'illiterate'? The Associated Press or the US government?

As far as I am aware there's no agreement between different 'style guides' on whether one should use it or not - for every case where not using it creates ambiguity there's one where _using_ it does. I don't even know if I use it or not - probably sometimes I do and sometimes I don't. But considering our health services are close to collapse, ny main point is that I think a new minister for health ought to have more important things to worry about. I already have a negative impression of this Truss-appointee, this pedantic nonsense does not improve it.

Pedantic nonsense is rather harsh. Doubtless you haven't lost nights of sleep over these grammatical issues. You have probably never experienced withering contempt for lengthy paragraphs, pithy psychological insights turned into charges of psychobabble, or the ridicule of mystical concepts called so because they defy linguistic expression. Just for your personal information, I just the other day and without the slightest knowledge that a list using commas had a name, I lost several nights sleep over the fact that such merciless criticism had caused me to lose my grip. Out of shear moral exhaustion, I am sure that was it, I could not muster the energy to use those commas several times recently when detailing such a list. That monster within me, that snake in the grass, the terror of the literate, that beast of a master the indefatigable grammar Nazi critic has yet to release me from the self flagellation I have been enduring since.

And I can assure you also that it is people like me and not like you who need medical help. Allow me, with hand to neck, to flip beard hairs in your face.

Just kidding, just kidding. It was only one night's sleep.

 

[vi edit]

How about them heating bills, huh?