Re: CHAT: Dashes

Christophe Grandsire wrote:
>
> En réponse à Robert Hailman <robert@...>:
>
> >
> > Also, semicolons are used in convoluted lists: "I gave a copy of my
> > book
> > to John, the barber; Fred, the doctor; and that hobo who lives under
> > the
> > bridge." means I gave the book to 3 people, but "... to John, the
> > barber, Fred, the doctor, and that hobo who lives under the bridge."
> > means I have the book to 5 people.
> >
>
> In French, we use commas and only commas for lists, but we usually repeat the
> preposition in front of each item of the list, so we don't need a special mark
> for convoluted lists.
Yeah, repeating the preposition is (more or less) an acceptable way to
handle a list like that in English, but some of us like convoluted
lists. ;-)

I guess if you're used to a language where semicolons are used
sparingly, then the over-use of them in English would be unpleasant.

--
Robert