Vonnegut hated them and Lincoln thought them ‘useful little chaps’. I, meanwhile, have come round to the charms of this controversial punctuation mark after years on the fence
I
s there any punctuation mark more divisive than the humble semicolon? It has, I’ll admit, some strong competition. The use of exclamation marks (particularly by women) makes some people very excitable. The Oxford comma has sparked vigorous debate among friends, family and internet strangers. More recently, ChatGPT’s apparent proclivity for the em dash has caused consternation among em-thusiasts, who are terrified they’ll be accused of using AI.
Still, while competition might be stiff, if there was a Most Provocative Punctuation contest, I reckon the semicolon would win it. Thrust into the world by an Italian printer called Aldus Manutius in 1494, the semicolon has amassed a legion of passionate supporters and haters. Abraham Lincoln was among the former; he once described the semicolon as a “useful little chap”. Meanwhile, Kurt Vonnegut (hater) called them “transvestite hermaphrodites representing absolutely nothing. All they do is show you’ve been to college.” (If Kurt had been to a college campus recently, he’d know you couldn’t talk about “transvestite hermaphrodites” without getting cancelled.)
