Oh no you didn't, Charles Krauthammer. Punctuation matters.

by Angela K. Durden
Citizen Journalist. Business writer, novelist, songwriter, and Technology inventor protecting creator's copyrights. 


Charles Krauthammer won a Pulitzer Prize. Which means that enough somebodies somewhere thought he was a good writer. I admit he's pretty good.

But I have to confess to you here, today, at this moment as you read it, whenever that moment is, that Mr. Krauthammer has let me down.

The subtitle of his book Things That Matter is in desperate need of a comma or other punctuation mark, has a dropped word, or it has a major typo. What do you think?

The subtitle reads as follows:

Three Decades of Passions, Pastimes and Politics.

If Charles was going for alliteration, and he meant he was writing about three separate subjects, then he should have put a comma after Pastimes so that it would read thusly:

Three Decades of Passions, Pastimes, and Politics.

But what did Charles really mean? Could it have been:

Three Decades of Passions. Pastimes and Politics.

or

Three Decades of Passions, and Pastimes and Politics.
(This implies that Pastimes and Politics are one entity.)

or

Three Decades of Passions: Pastimes and Politics.
(This implies that his passions are Pastimes and Politics.)

I am so confused — and traumatized! — I don't think I'll be able to finish the book.

Oh, Charles, Charles, Charles! Even Brody (not my dog, therefore I cannot control his opinion) has a negative opinion about the Oxford comma, and he only has one eye that can be offended. 

Look at him, Charles. Look. At. Him! Does he look happy to you? Charles, Brody needs you to better pay attention to these things. I need you to better pay attention to these things. I'm a woman, so you might not listen to me, but who can turn down  a request from such a sad-eyed dog? Only the heartless, Charles. Please tell me you aren't heartless. Please.