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[johnslat]

"4 Copy Editors Killed In Ongoing AP Style, Chicago Manual Gang Violence

NEW YORK�Law enforcement officials confirmed Friday that four more copy editors were killed this week amid ongoing violence between two rival gangs divided by their loyalties to the The Associated Press Stylebook and The Chicago Manual Of Style. �At this time we have reason to believe the killings were gang-related and carried out by adherents of both the AP and Chicago styles, part of a vicious, bloody feud to establish control over the grammar and usage guidelines governing American English,� said FBI spokesman Paul Holstein, showing reporters graffiti tags in which the word �anti-social� had been corrected to read �antisocial.� �The deadly territory dispute between these two organizations, as well as the notorious MLA Handbook gang, has claimed the lives of more than 63 publishing professionals this year alone.� Officials also stated that an innocent 35-year-old passerby who found himself caught up in a long-winded dispute over use of the serial, or Oxford, comma had died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound."

http://www.theonion.com/articles/4-copy-editors-killed-in-ongoing-ap-style-chicago,30806/

Regards,
John

[AGoodStory]

I guess I have to start thinking of myself as gullible. I was half-way through this paragraph before it even occurred to me that it might be satire. Then I saw the name of the website. Oh, those Comma Wars!

Eagerly awaiting the new avatar, John--the old one disappeared as I was reading the above post!

[Sashadroogie]

I'd have them all hanged, for a comma.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_wYBn_olDg

[johnslat]

Dear AGoodStory,

Thanks for mentioning that - I probably wouldn't have even noticed.

Here's a link to a bigger version of my new one:

http://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/527707_3295280217600_1073429275_n.jpg

Regards,
John

[memae]

It's like my multi-discipline/school undergrad all over again. MLA for this, APA for that, and the journalism school has its own style guide (thank you very much, but not thank-you very much, because according to the School of English and Media Studies's style guide, that's a noun, and Internet is not internet and don't use contracted verbs).

[LongShiKong]

[quote="Sashadroogie"]I'd have them all hanged, for a comma.

Brings a new meaning to the term 'commatose'.

-----------
Now that the separatist party took power in Quebec last fall, narrowly evading a deranged assasin's attempt to gun them all down on election night (the automatic jammed after the first killing), the language police appear to be back at it:

Quebec�s language laws reach a new low in Sainte-Agathe

[scot47]

Sasha is a commanist

[Sashadroogie]

... and a quotation Marxist!

[mr fred]

The comma, is most useful but, must be used, properly.

[mmcmorrow]

I, myself, have been known to misuse the full stop. But only periodically.

[Sashadroogie]

This is getting very biological. I shudder to think what cracks the colon will discharge...

[johnslat]

There are even those who think that automatic semi-colons should be banned.

Regards,
John

[spiral78]

[johnslat]

If those are required, it would, of course, mean that ALL ESL/EFL teachers would be banned due to failing the check, the assessment or (which would likely be the case for most) both.

Regards,
John

[spiral78]

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firing automatic rounds while I legally can!