Re: OT semi-colons

["David B. Kronenfeld" KFELD@xxxxxxxx]

Sometimes, of course, things just are confusing. For much of my
youth I heard "Silent Night" as taking place around three people:
"round yon virgin, mother, and child". I kind of do know that the
exigencies of singing the music introduce the misleading pause, but
there often is something that confuses--especially if one (speaker or
writer) is trying not to sound stilted and long-winded. We mostly
avoid the confusion by relying on context--which is why individual
sentences taken out of context so often sound either confusing or opaque.
            Cheers,
                David Kronenfeld

At 06:45 PM 10/29/2005, you wrote:
> I think you have it right. The kind of list that really needs
> semi-colons is the more formal one, usually not spoken material,
> such as: "Lord Doe, the Lord Chancellor; Sir John, his son-in-law;
> and Lord Doe's mother-in-law, the Dowager Duchess of Thanet" -- with
> semicolons, it's perfectly clear these are three people, not six.
>
> George H Scithers