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Language Log: "My parents, Ayn Rand and God"

itre.cis.upenn.edu · 723 words · saved by 1 readers

With reference to my recent post on Ayn Rand's foray into comparative ethnographic lexicography, Ben Zimmer points out another connection between linguistics and the founder of Objectivism: her role in an (apparently aprocryphal) argument for the serial comma. Well, her name's role, at least. The crucial example is This book is dedicated to my parents, Ayn Rand and God. which was intended to mean "...dedicated to my parents, to Ayn Rand, and to God", but can all too easily be read as "...dedicated to my parents, [who are] Ayn Rand and God". The idea is that a serial comma ("...to my parents, Ayn Rand, and God") would have spared us all from blasphemous thoughts. The full story is here, where Vicki Rosenzweig writes: I heard of this example from Teresa Nielsen Hayden. When I asked her about it, she referred me to Jon Singer. Jon referred me to a former co-worker of his, to whom I sent an email that began, approximately, "You don't know me, but I'm a friend of Jon Singer's (I know, isn't

Language Log: "My parents, Ayn Rand and God" "My parents, Ayn Rand and God" With reference to my recent post on Ayn Rand's foray into comparative ethnographic lexicography, Ben Zimmer points out another connection between linguistics and the founder of Objectivism: her role in an (apparently apocryphal) argument for the serial comma.... Mark Liberman 2006-03-16T18:29:00-05:00 --> Language Log << printing a list of all english words | Main | Instilling linguistic anxiety in Raachester >> March 16, 2006 "My parents, Ayn Rand and God" With reference to my recent post on Ayn Rand's foray into comp

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