Dispatches for the Colonial Office: A Comma-nist Manifesto

Wednesday, July 29, 2026

Lawrence Hall

A Comma-nist Manifesto

Like tiny little tadpoles, commas are fun

Randomly swimming in a pool of words

Feeding on microscopic organisms -

They might grow up to be dictionaries

Unless they are devoured by an A.I.

Do Oxford commas wear tiny Cambridge shoes?

Or do they simply float about, separating clauses

As commanded by Fowler¹, but not by a fisher

Commas will mend a certain grammatical flaw

Lest “Let’s eat, Grandma!” become “Let’s eat Grandma!”²

¹ Fowler’s Modern English Usage, Oxford University Press, many editions

² Possibly every language teacher has employed this old wheeze.

Dispatches for the Colonial Office