Page "Semicolon" Paragraph 36

Kurt Vonnegut in A Man Without a Country ( 2005 ) stated: " Here is a lesson in creative writing.

First rule: Do not use semicolons.

They are transvestite hermaphrodites representing absolutely nothing.

All they do is show you've been to college.

" In response to Vonnegut and Truss, Ben MacIntyre, columnist in The Times ( London ), wrote: " Americans have long regarded the semi-colon with suspicion, as a genteel, self-conscious, neither-one-thing-nor-the other sort of punctuation mark, with neither the butchness of a full colon nor the flighty promiscuity of the comma.

Hemingway and Chandler and Stephen King wouldn ’ t be seen dead in a ditch with a semi-colon ( though Truman Capote might ).

Real men, goes the unwritten rule of American punctuation, don ’ t use semi-colons.