Grammar Girl here. I'm Inyon Fogarty, your friendly guide to the English language. Today we'll talk about Kurt Vonnegut and the semicolon, and then we'll talk about what age has to do with your writing.

For many writers, picking a favorite punctuation mark is a bit like picking a favorite child.

All of them can move you to awe with their power and finesse, and all of them can

frustrate and disappoint you with their weaknesses.

But don't you dare speak ill of them, any of them?

And that's why I was surprised when I first saw Kurt Vonnegut throwing shade at the semicolon.

His quotation is usually presented in isolation like this.

First rule, do not use semicolins.

They are transvestite hermaphrodites representing absolutely nothing.

All they do is show you've been to college.

Well, aside from the puzzling and seemingly offensive put-down of transvestite hermaphrodites,

and my memories of being taught about semicolons in grade school rather than college,

I couldn't imagine that any talented writer would so universally dismiss an entire punctuation mark. Since I'm not one to take things at face value, I went

searching and quickly found that the Vonnegut quotation, which I so often see offered with a giddy

air of insider superiority, is taken out of context.

Here's the next line.

And I realize some of you may be having trouble deciding whether I'm kidding or not.

So from now on, I'll tell you when I'm kidding.

The way he delivers the line, it's still not clear whether he's saying he was kidding or simply saying he'll warn us in the future when he is kidding.

But at the least, it casts doubt on his meaning.

A further reading of the essay casts more significant doubt because he goes on to disparage indigenous storytellers. He said,

I started going to the library in search of reports about ethnographers, preachers, and explorers,

...