I don't know if you all have seen people oohing and ahhing about the oxford or series comma in dating profiles, but I'm a bit sick of it. It's boring, overused, and at best just indicates that you are the sort of person to judge another by their grammar preferences.

So why is it in so many dating profiles? I certainly don't think our collective 7th grade english teachers instilled a deep love for punctuation in our 13 year old minds and souls.

My theory is that there were some clever, yet boring, people writing their lists: "My favorite things are traveling, netflix, and ______". Unable to complete their rule-of-three they being to search. Their eye catches something! It's the oxford comma in their uncompleted list. This is cheeky, this is funny, lets add it to the list.

People love this, and either come to the joke on their own or borrow it from other profile. It spreads like wildfire, but the uninitiated begin to think that liking the oxford comma is a normal and regular thing to do. Liking the oxford comma is something that educated people would do, it is a signal of class and if everyone else likes it then I too must profess a love.

And then there is the now. I see profiles on Hinge. The prompt "Let's make sure we're on the same page about," the response "the oxford comma." I see tinder profiles. "About me: -BLM -Astrology emojis -Crazy about bubble tea -Oxford comma enthusiast"

:angery:

  • SorosFootSoldier [he/him, they/them]
    ·
    3 年前

    Snarky nerds got nothing on the boomers who use commas instead of ellipses. For some reason I can't do it here on hexbear but check it out: instead of ... between words like...this... the boomer uses 3 commas. Absolutely no clue why and it drives me crazy.

    • Orcocracy [comrade/them]
      ·
      3 年前

      It might be because the keys are right next to each other on some keyboards. Old boomer dudes were never taught how to properly type because when they were at school typing was considered women's work.

      • GreenTeaRedFlag [any]
        ·
        3 年前

        They were also taught to write everything without emotion or tone, so they use punctuation wrong instead of using exclamation points or slang.

          • GreenTeaRedFlag [any]
            ·
            3 年前

            I have to yell at some relatives to write more freely, because otherwise they just write threateningly or without a purpose.