The life of a New Yorker copy editor

Copy editors are a dime a dozen. Or are they?

New Yorker copy editor Mary Norris expounds on her career with words, punctuation and grammar.

It’s a tale – far more interesting than what’s on the surface, giving much credit to the writer – of how Norris became a “comma queen.”

Ever wonder about the serial comma? It’s long been used in the house style of the Oxford University Press, where it’s also picked up the name “Oxford comma.” Of course, we’re talking about the comma placed before “and” in a series (aha, serial!) of three or more things.

Associated Press style, followed by most newspapers, including Springfield Business Journal, does not adopt the serial comma.

One of the strongest arguments for the serial comma is the sentence: “We invited the strippers, J.F.K. and Stalin.” Oxford proponents then ask: Which stripper had the better outfit, J.F.K. or Stalin?” Hard to say.

To Norris, “The serial comma is a pawn in the war between town and gown. To call it the Oxford comma gives it a bit of class, a little snob appeal. Chances are that if you use the Oxford comma you brush the crumbs off your shirtfront before going out.”

This is the life of a comma queen at the New Yorker copy desk. She’s got more to say in an upcoming book, “Between You and Me: Confessions of a Comma Queen.”

Norris does love words, and commas, after all.
 
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