I heart the semicolon:
Americans, in particular, prefer shorter sentences without, as style books advise, that distinct division between statements that are closely related but require a separation more prolonged than a conjunction and more emphatic than a comma.
“When Hemingway killed himself he put a period at the end of his life,” Kurt Vonnegut once said. “Old age is more like a semicolon.”
Used judiciously, of course; the semicolon’s one of the few advantages of academic writing.
It’s true; the semi-colon doesn’t get half the love it deserves. I suspect some people think it’s on the keyboard just so they can make winking emoticons.
I have a friend with a semicolon tattoo on her neck.
You heart semicolons? OMG I heart semicolons too!!!1!
I wish I’d thought up that tattoo first, Jeremy. Maybe instead I’ll just get Karen’s comment up my forearm!
It’s funny how an author who was so emphatically against using the semi-colon is quoted. Vonnegut called them “Hermaphrodite Transvestites”.
And please ignore the hyphen. I heart hyphens.
I adore the semicolon, Gwenda.
Why stop altogether (.) when we could just pause (;) and then keep going? In this world of fast paced multi-tasking, stopping is something that we humans rarely do. So hooray for the semicolon! May it be given it’s proper place as a hip, fast-paced form of 21st century punctuation.
Yes, I am a fan of the semicolon as well! I’ve always loved long sentences, and so the semicolon and I are steadfast friends. I dare anyone to find a single blog post of mine that does not make use of this darling little piece of punctuation.