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Comment by NonNefarious | Hacker News Reader

Except the Oxford comma PREVENTS confusion, and thus should be the rule.

No, this does not logically follow.

General rule: don’t use the comma. If the sentence is ambiguous to the reader in a specific case, then either: add a comma, or rewrite your sentence to be less confusing.

The comma also dictates cadence. The comma implies a pause, which is also the correct delivery. The lack of a pause is not.

I definitely use both deliveries in speech depending on the context, usually adding in the final pause when it helps disambiguate.

For example, “Apples, oranges and pears” the “and” has the about the same count as the pause after “Apples”; pausing before the “and” feels like a stutter.

You, could, use, the, Shatner, comma, instead

Then you are also arguing in favor of the Oxford comma.

"We're having hot dogs, hamburgers, and peanut butter and jelly.

Or, always use the comma. So there is no possibility of confusion.

Especially in a medical setting where the aesthetics of a sentence are not close to as important as clarity.

You mean "No, this does not follow logically"

I think most programmers can agree that the fewer special cases there are, confusion and overhead is also reduced. Always using the comma reduces a whole area of decision making where one needs to decide if it’s needed or not in every special case.

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