A Short History of the Semicolon, and Why It Refuses to Die

The semicolon was invented in Venice in 1494 by the printer Aldus Manutius, who wanted a pause longer than a comma but shorter than a colon. It has been under attack more or less ever since. Kurt Vonnegut called it a transvestite hermaphrodite representing absolutely nothing. Style guides warn against it. Teachers circle it in red.

And yet it persists; it thrives, even, in the prose of people who think carefully about rhythm. The semicolon joins two thoughts that belong together without pretending they are one. It is the punctuation of the considered afterthought, of balance, of the sentence that knows it could have stopped but chose not to.

Use it sparingly. But use it.