[Chris Hanson]

This, from The Australian, is interesting:

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news...-1226109371840

[Skip Dewahl]

I was going to go for the obvious and mention how too much usage of the semicolon may cause blockage, with the only remedy the clarifying effects of the full colon, but since that backup sounds counter-intuitive, I won't go on.

[T.S. Kerrigan]

I had my head screwed up early by a high school teacher who insisted it was sinful to link two sentences with a semicolon. I feel the harmful effects of her advice to this day.

[Michael Cantor]

Biographical Note:

I am a semi-colon kind of guy;
enamored of the curlicue, the dot;
the quiet, understated way it’s got
of letting life just slide and sidle by;
a ritualistic pause that may imply,
a thing or two, a shrug, a sigh, is what
I choose to offer; not the cold-and-hot
assaults of passion that transmogrify

a subtle hint into a joust with God:
no images, no metaphors, no blood,
no wild-eyed horses dying in the mud;
I don’t make love or war, I simply nod;
and as I semi-smile and semi-bow,
my semi-colon arcs a jaded brow.

[Jayne Osborn]

I'm a semicolon kind of gal, though I couldn't match Michael's excellent offering in verse. I have to say that the semicolon (no hyphen) will be around for as long as I, for one, am able to write.

I teach all my students to use it; I love it!

[Stephen Colley]

Of course, the semicolon is but one part of punctuation's unholy trinity (colon, semicolon, comma), so here's a thought -- written many years ago (yes, what about dashes?) -- on the larger subject...


Colonitis
(for Ogden Nash)

When rendered commatose by stress, the anxious writer’s colon does only a half-asked job
and degenerates into a semicolon; intermittent in its punctuation;
resulting in fluctuation of the Muse’s functuation;

Which is all highly irregular; but not nearly as bad as a semicolon succumbing to its lower nature
and lapsing into a comma, hardly stemming the flow of idea,
resulting naturally in verbal diarrhea,

Which, however commacle, is not nearly as bad as a semi-colon losing its better half
and sinking into a barren period. Stopping all inspiration.
Resulting periodically in mental constipation.

[Allen Tice]

Originally Posted by Michael Cantor

Biographical Note:

I am a semi-colon kind of guy;
enamored of the curlicue, the dot;
the quiet, understated way it’s got
of letting life just slide and sidle by;
a ritualistic pause that may imply,
a thing or two, a shrug, a sigh, is what
I choose to offer; not the cold-and-hot
assaults of passion that transmogrify

a subtle hint into a joust with God:
no images, no metaphors, no blood,
no wild-eyed horses dying in the mud;
I don’t make love or war, I simply nod;
and as I semi-smile and semi-bow,
my semi-colon arcs a jaded brow.

I remember you reading this at Modern Metrics in the East East East Village East. This emoticon is semicolonic in embryo.

[Carolyn Moore]

Here's another article, "The Semicolon Slut":
http://www.interrobangzine.com/essays/semicolon-slut/

. . . and I'm not sharing the link because I happen to be this issue's (the journal's latest one) Featured Poet and therefore they posted online three of my five poems that are in the print edition. However, that honor is why I found and read this semicolon article in the first place.

[Janice D. Soderling]

Welcome to Eratosphere, Carolyn, not only for your poetry and critical acumen, but also, I hope, as an active member of the Word Nerd Society which hounds those enthusiastic but careless souls who cannot, or will not, distinguish between loath and loathe, who keep a "tight reign" and who disregard the natural alliance between good writing and correct spelling. There is a US contingent and a UK congingent; some intrepid souls belong to both. As in church, the attendees are mostly women.

The Society has a standing committe on abuse of its and it's. We convene irregularly, but there is usually a good turnout, virtual refreshments, and sometimes a behind-the-scenes brawl. Welcome.

[Gregory Dowling]

Originally Posted by Janice D. Soderling

There is a US contingent and a UK congingent; some intrepid souls belong to both.

Put me down as a UK con-gin-and-tonic-gent, Janice.