SJ Longthorne

Why do people hate on using semicolons so much? Yes you could use a full stop or an emdash, but it’s also no more effort. It’s the same number of characters. So unless someone gives me a valid reason, I’m gonna carry on using them. WITH ABANDON.

She says, without using a single semicolon. BUT I WILL!

It’s like you lot just heard Vonnegut call them pretentious (that quote is super all-sorts-of-phobic btw) and everyone was like NOBODY USE THEM. Dude... let folks use whatever punctuation they like.

I say all this because somebody showed me a job ad the other day and whoever had written it had some some sassy comment about candidates knowing ‘whether that semi-colon was necessary’ and it wound me up.

It’s fine if that’s your house style — it’s easy to adapt — but don’t shame folks for their writing style. It doesn’t impede on the writing quality in ANY tangible way; you’re just being unnecessary.

See? Snuck one in. BOOM.

I just don't think we know enough about semi-colons to know if their regular use is safe. We need more research before people start semi-coloning WITH ABANDON. You don't know what the consequences might be.