(sorry this is a nerdy punctuation post.)

"shockingly low, given that none of the other major candidates was even on the ballot; "uncommitted" got 37 percent"

This is the first time I've seen the semicolon in Slate. From what I've read, it is against their style book ever to use one; they consider it stuffy and antithetical to a web-writing tone. Nice job sneaking it in, Chatterbox!

Excellent post, exaspero, but I would like to point out that if you look at Fraywatch for January 16 (scroll down through the current item) you will find several semi-colons.

Moira Redmond

Fray Editor and semi-colon user

exaspero, if you look at this week's Slate poem, "Food Lion, Winchester, Tennessee," you will find (unfortunately, in this case) not one, but three semicolons. Although I am a firm believer in and user of semicolons, I do think they should be banned from poetry.

MaryAnn