Random thoughts on semicolons.....

 Disclaimer: I told you all that random things pop into my mind from time to time. So, no judgement folks.

The other night, right as I was about to fall asleep, I was mentally running over a piece I had wanted to write when I got confused. I spent 20 minutes trying to figure out if I needed a comma, period, or semicolon. (I went with a period, curious cats.) I realized that I rarely, if ever, use semicolons in my writing. 

And in my half awake state, I summed up my relationship with semicolons like this: Semicolon is that one friend you know you need to hang out with more but don't. Thing is, you're way more comfortable with Period and Comma. Whenever you and Semicolon meet, you spend twenty minutes trying to figure out what to say and if you should say it. You never have to guess with Period and Comma. I mean, Semicolon is a good friend and when you manage to say the right thing, you feel so cool. Only thing is, you really would rather live without the anxiety Semicolon seems to tote around. So, you contact Semicolon less and less. Then, one night as you try to sleep, you realize you haven't spoken in over a year.  You feel bad. So, you go to look up your ol' friend, Semicolon. And there Semicolon is. Still waiting patiently for you to just say something. Anything.

You feel the guilt there, don't you? Lb2 is ashamed of me right now. He is on speaking terms with Semicolon. But, I honestly can't think of how to smoothly slip a semicolon in my writing.

According to Wikipedia, The semicolon or semi-colon^] ; is a symbol commonly used as orthographic punctuation. In the English language, a semicolon is most commonly used to link (in a single sentence) two independent clauses that are closely related in thought, such as when restating the preceding idea with a different expression. When a semicolon joins two or more ideas in one sentence, those ideas are then given equal rank.Semicolons can also be used in place of commas to separate items in a list, particularly when the elements of the list themselves have embedded commas.

And, The semicolon is one of the least understood of the standard marks, and so it is not as frequently used by many English speakers.

I just wanted to get that of my chest. I know that I'm not the only one out there with a sketchy relationship with semicolons. Sometimes, a little self reflection is what a writer needs. Here is mine. Try not to hate me too much, Grammar Police.

As always, feel free to leave a message below.