Newsroom controversies can arise in unexpected places.

For instance, the Oxford comma, sometimes referred to as the Harvard comma, is a coma placed after the penultimate term in a list (just before the conjunction) when writing out three or more terms. For example, a list of three countries might be punctuated with the Oxford comma as “France, Spain, and Italy.”

The Oxford comma, or Harvard comma can help avoid ambiguity in some cases, but can also create ambiguity in others. The Oxford comma is therefore popular in formal, academic, and literary writing. For instance, “I love my parents, Madonna, and Elvis Presley” is grammatically clear, whereas “I love my parents, Madonna and Elvis Presley” implies Madonna and Elvis Presley are the user’s parents! This is precisely the reason my husband and I decided years ago to use the Oxford comma. Well, my husband does, when it is absolutely necessary for clarity.

However, while the Chicago Manual of Style, used by some journalists, advocates for the use of the Oxford comma, AP style does not use the Oxford comma (except for clarity nowadays), primarily on the basis of saving space. In the past AP Style never allowed Oxford commas, but in recent editions they have lightened up.

In the United States, AP Style is most widely used by newspapers. I have been in newsrooms in the past where some reporters actually argued about this. While if seems perfectly clear to me there are those who insisted that AP Style must be followed no matter how ridiculous it may have seemed at the time, just to maintain consistency.

If you are insulted – but only to you, friend with whom I’ve not worked with – I apologize. I do NOT apologize to the long list of former coworkers and numbskulls with whom I have worked and argued with in the past.

What are your thoughts on the Oxford comma? If this is not a concern to you, are there other grammatical practices that have raised issues for you? I’d love to hear about it in the comments.