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Grammar Moses: Punctuation world adither over Oxford comma's day in court

I'm sure you read the big news last week in The New York Times. Shocking stuff.

I can't tell you how many people emailed me a link to that blockbuster piece.

But seeing as how I don't want people saying I trade in hyperbole or fake news, I will tell you: Six.

Six people were compelled to pass it along to me, just as my Uncle Rick does whenever someone sends him an important golf joke.

The headline screamed: "Lack of Oxford Comma Could Cost Maine Company Millions in Overtime Dispute."

I know, I know. I'm still reeling over this.

It's all word nerds are talking about. And it's garnering more attention on my Facebook page than pictures I post of the two most adorable kitties in the history of felis catus.

Times reporter Daniel Victor wrote about a 2014 lawsuit filed by three truck drivers who sued the Maine-based Oakhurst Dairy seeking four years of overtime pay.

Allow me to interrupt with a quick recap of what an Oxford (or serial) comma is. In a list of three or more things, the Oxford comma is the one that comes after the second-to-last item. Its goal is to create undeniable separation between the two.

"Pork, beef, and chicken" are my three basic food groups."

Those who eschew the Oxford comma - consider me among them when it comes to everyday writing - would eliminate that comma after "beef."

Newspapers generally do not use them, but plenty of academics do. I'm sure the Oxford comma has made for all sorts of heated discussions at literary réunions des esprits.

But while I generally find them unnecessary, there are times an Oxford comma really can really clear things up and, in this case, really save you some money.

Back to the truck drivers:

State law in Maine says that overtime rules don't apply to:

"The canning, processing, preserving, freezing, drying, marketing, storing, packing for shipment or distribution of agricultural produce; meat and fish products; and perishable foods.

If an Oxford comma were inserted after "packing for shipment" - thereby separating it from "distribution" - it would clearly suggest that not just all the things leading up to and including "packing" is exempt but ALSO "distribution" - or what the truck drivers contributed to the process.

Without the Oxford comma, it is unclear. And it's unclear whether the truck drivers should be exempted from receiving overtime pay.

Because it wouldn't be cool to rehash Daniel's entire piece, and because nytimes.com can use all the readership it can get (wink, wink), I urge you to read how things end up for the truckers. Those of you who are reading this online already have a link to the Times story. I urge you print readers to fire up the Google machine and find it that way.

I will add that The Associated Press Stylebook tells us if an element of the series of things requires a conjunction, you should use the Oxford comma.

"I had orange juice, toast, and ham and eggs for breakfast."

The conjunction suggests ham and eggs is a thing unto itself.

Home on the range

I was tooling along the tollway the other day and heard someone on a national radio broadcast say this about forest fire conditions in Oklahoma:

"Conditions are either moderate to extremely dry."

Hold on just a minute there, pardner.

You can't have it both ways. You can describe an alternative or a range, but not both at the same time.

It should be either "Conditions are either moderate or extremely dry" (an alternative) or "Conditions range from moderate to extremely dry" (duh, a range.)

Logically, conditions like this fall along a range, so I'd go with the latter.

Write carefully!

• Jim Baumann is vice president/managing editor of the Daily Herald. Write him at jbaumann@dailyherald.com. Put Grammar Moses in the subject line. You also can friend or follow Jim at facebook.com/baumannjim.

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