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Study finds a 50% decline in the use of semicolons over the last two decades
- sandra_vu 1y agowith where we are heading, we might see the 90% drop in the use of –
- dusted 1y agoI think they forgot to include *.js *.ts *.c *.cpp *.java
- pfdietz 1y agoCommas, on the, other hand, are turning up, everywhere. https://theonion.com/commas-turning-up-everywhere-1819569774/ https://theonion.com/commas-turning-up-everywhere-1819569774...
- derbOac 1y agoPeriods too. Periods and commas are being used incorrectly in place of semicolons, ellipses, and em dashes.
- treetalker 1y agoNetizens frequently misuse question marks in place of periods to indicate surprise? And what even do they use even after interrogatories for? What even is that?
- dowager_dan99 1y agostill beats people? who talk? like this?
- dx4100 1y agoI've seen people use them as a way to replace pauses in speech. I see it more with boomers / Gen-X. example: he isn't wrong... why do you think that ... it's a good thing
- lapsis_beeftech 1y agoThe semicolon has always been the neglected underdog of punctuation; I try to sneak one in wherever I think I can get away with it.
- Ozarkian 1y agoI would like to disagree with you; however, your sentiment is based on sound grammar.
- eimrine 1y agoI would like to say this about colons. Semicolons means the sentence is too hard, sometimes it will look easier with parentheses.
- qgin 1y agoThe utility : pretentiousness ratio is too low.
- adverbly 1y agoPersonally I have been using em dash(or some other kind of dash) for everything these days. I know it's probably wrong, but I got the feeling that people won't roast me over a fire if I use it incorrectly.
- phoe-krk 1y agoIt's certainly a crisis in the Lisp world; everyone seems to be writing fewer comments.
- lemonwaterlime 1y agoOutside of coding, I seldom use semicolons; however, they do have their uses in certain cases—when there are two complete thoughts in the sentence.
- derbOac 1y agoThe cited Guardian article is worth reading as well if you're interested; there's a usage quiz with it: https://www.theguardian.com/science/2025/may/18/marked-decline-semicolon-use-english-books-study-suggests https://www.theguardian.com/science/2025/may/18/marked-decli...
- dowager_dan99 1y agoI will miss the semicolon, but I'm more concerned about punctuation in general. If I punctuate a text message my teenage daughter will respond "are you mad at me"
- BeFlatXIII 1y agoI deliberately use punctuation to flex and intimidate others. Only those undaunted by the weird glyphs are worthy of my respect.
- nunez 1y agoIt's hard af to type on screen keyboards, especially with increasingly-wrong autocorrect keyboards.
- ryao 1y agoWhenever someone misuses the word mad, I think of this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Ao4WTcMtY8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Ao4WTcMtY8
- Geste 1y agoSo I guess we are doing our part here ? Trying to sneak one semicolon for the count ? I'm not sure even when to even use them correctly. They always fall flat or make sound pretentious; both of which I try to avoid.
- DaSHacka 1y agoI'm more curious about the usage of em/en dash, most people in my life had no idea it existed. I myself only discovered them for the first time when reading a punctuation site to ensure I was using semicolons grammatically correctly.
- nunez 1y agoI always used three hyphens in place of the emdash; easier to type.
- DaSHacka 1y agoSome of my acquaintances were doing the same, but unintentionally. I had also thought news articles and the like were using regular hyphens that were extended due to some weird font.
- saurik 1y agoWhile I've seen it in tooling like markdown--with two being an endash--that's very very wide... I am very sure the convention has always been to use two hyphens for an mdash (which is even easier to type! ;P).
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- dx4100 1y agoI've been using double hyphens (which auto-corrects to emdash now) for as long as I can remember. Now that it's a marker of AI, I find myself removing it whenever I reply to comments.
- nunez 1y agoThe semicolon was always a confusing symbol; it makes even less sense in typical text-style conversations on phones. you can use a period in its place most of the time.
- AceyMan 1y ago"I have great respect for the semicolon; it is a mighty handy little fellow." — Abraham Lincoln
- vonnik 1y agoThe crazy thing about semicolons is that they were once common in books intended for young adults/middle readers. See E. Nesbit and co. When I read the childrens' authors of early 20C Britain, I often think their writing is more demanding that books marketed to today's adults.
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- southernplaces7 1y agoGood riddance. I'll go with what Vonnegut said on them. “Here is a lesson in creative writing. First rule: Do not use semicolons. They are transvestite hermaphrodites representing absolutely nothing. All they do is show you've been to college.”