Comments on: Obama/Sebelius?

By: DLS

DLS — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 17:26:08 +0000

The slash character has been misused for quite a while. It's not the case here, but often you'll see the slash misused in place of a conjunction. In the case here, the slash is wrongly used in place of a hyphen. (The hyphen means “and” while the slash means “or,” is another way to view this.) The hyphen combines; the slash separates. (Your “initials” example is interesting.) It's not just incorrect punctuation, but incorrect conception. It's a pet peeve of mine, particularly when the poor English is in a flippant or play-pen context.

By: StockBoySF

StockBoySF — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 07:08:18 +0000

DLS: thanks for the rule on the proper presentation of the President's and Vice President's names when they're together.

I actually didn't know that. But I think in my postings, once we know both I'll probably use the slash just to distinguish it from two names combined into one, the legally hyphenated version. Somehow in my mind a slash seems more accurate. Actually I'll probably use their initials, perhaps O/R for Obama-Richardson. I think O/R is pretty good since this country needs an operating room to heal.

Thanks again!

But

By: DLS

DLS — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 00:39:19 +0000

Obama-Sebelius (correctly written with a hyphen, not a slash) will leave most people scratching their heads and saying, “Who?” more than had happened with Geraldine Ferraro. It will also be seen as a cheap attack on Hillary Clinton.

Since a couple of establishmentarian Unity 08's members want to “draft” Bloomberg, Bloomberg would be a Democrat again if he were honest, he would split the Democratic vote if he entered as an “independent” [sic], he might be an alternative to the still-most-likely-and-logical John Edwards.

Either that or bring Gore back.