The Semicolon

Today, we’re going to talk about the semicolon. The modern teenager can’t help but wonder what all the fuss is about behind that ambiguous punctuation mark. Forget studying for the SATs, salvaging your social life, and wondering when “The Office” is on.* What matters most is the semicolon, because knowing its origin and usage rules will satisfy your greatest desires, which may or may not include:

• impressing AP readers with your punctuation savvy
• something to talk about in your next speed dating session
• photon torpedoes

So, let’s get to it! First, examine the structure of the semicolon:

;

Perhaps it repesents the sun rising on new life in embyroic form. Or maybe it suggests a forbidden love between the plain period and the tailed comma. The seperation between God and man? A portrait of evolution? One half of a winking face? The interpretations are as endless as [a thing that never ends].

When do we use the semicolon? For that, Wikipedia has the answer:

1. It binds two sentences more closely than they would be if separated by a full stop/period. It often replaces a conjunction such as and or but. Writers might consider this appropriate where they are trying to indicate a close relationship between two sentences, or a ‘run-on’ in meaning from one to the next; they do not want the connection to be broken by the abrupt use of a full stop.
2. It is used as a stronger division than a comma, or a “super comma” to make meaning clear in a sentence where commas are already being used for other purposes. A common example of this use is to separate the items of a list when some of the items themselves contain commas.

Super comma? That’s a blog entry for another day. Don’t you ever have an urge to just misuse punctuation when writing? Like, while working on an essay, do you think, “Hey, I’d like to stick a pound sign in the middle of that sentence!” Yeah, me neither. But anyone who wishes they could use interpuncts and backslashes more often is all right in my book.

I got bored writing about the semicolon. Just goes to show you I can never stay on topic. Unless I’m talking about the ultimate fate of the universe or this guy, because then I could go on and on.

*These are some of the priorities in my life, and I do not represent the rest of the teenage population.

My God

It’s been a long time since I posted. I figured this would be one of those projects I end up neglecting and eventually abandoning forever. But that’s not the case! Hooray. I’m really only here because blog.myspace.com is being rather annoying. And see, I have no patience for websites that take an hour to load. Because I’m just not the type. Never was, and probably never will be.

But nothing is set in stone. It’s more like a Play Doh-like substance, one that you can mold and remold over and over. Where have we been, and where are we going? Would I rather think, “What do I have for homework tonight?” or “How will I be contributing to God’s great green Earth in ten years?” With the latter, you get distracted from those menial tasks that drill the same parts of your brain ad nauseum. But you let your mind wander too far into the future, and you might end up disappointed when that time finally comes.

This blog has a rather negative feel to it, so let’s talk about something more positive. Pi, for example. Nary has a number impacted society in such astounding ways! I mean, it’s never-ending. And it never repeats. Ever. I can’t even begin to fathom something like that. I guess pi is a lot like humanity. God’s the three, and everyone here is on the other side of the decimal point. Each little segment of it represents anyone who ever lived. We’re all made up of the same components, but none of us are totally alike. Put us all together, and we’re an infinite mosaic of numbers forced together through logic and necessity.

But, unlike pi, the end of human kind will happen one day. Maybe in ten years, maybe in a thousand. Did I just make a turn into the negative again? Guess I can’t help it. I’m not a pessimist, but I am rather thirsty. And it doesn’t matter to me if the glass is half empty or half full, just as long as there’s something in it.