#semicolon

#semicolon

I'm one of those authors whose books AI ate for lunch a few years back. At some point I might get a check to pay me for a dozen years' work on the three books it stole, but really, there's no way to compensate for the fallout. AI seems to think no, it can't think, only shuffle what real people thought that a machine can write as well as a person can.

Is there any punctuation mark more divisive than the humble semicolon? It has, I'll admit, some strong competition. The use of exclamation marks (particularly by women) makes some people very excitable. The Oxford comma has sparked vigorous debate among friends, family and internet strangers. More recently, ChatGPT's apparent proclivity for the em dash has caused consternation among em-thusiasts, who are terrified they'll be accused of using AI.