IamMaryNorris

Ask me after I've retired.

I'm starting to think I don't like it, because it sounds so snobbish when you call it "the Oxford comma."

Can't we switch back to serial comma?

When people don't know the difference between "masterly" and "masterful."

You'd have a "masterly" piece of writing, but a boxer in the ring would be "masterful."

I could go on about "lie" and "lay."

It's "lie," "lay," "lain," and "lay," "laid," and "laid."

Easy!

I could add that "lie" is an intransitive verb meaning "to recline," and "lay" is a transitive verb meaning "to put something somewhere, to place or set."

Well, the one that snuck through - there was a woman named Mrs. Pensig, and in the magazine, it came out with a slight transposition so it came out as "Mrs. Penis G."

Somebody wanted to put something in the form of Mad Libs, and include a word in boldface type. And I balked at using boldface. We don't use boldface. And the writer said "Well, why not do something new and different once in a while?!"

And I thought You just don't understand The New Yorker.

But he got his way! We did the boldface.

It was the only time I ever threatened to change it behind his back. Muwahaha.