At last, I’ve been vindicated. After years of grinding my teeth while reading shoddy prose, it’s happened: A U.S. court of appeals judge has officially agreed that commas matter—and he’s fined a Maine dairy company $5 million for omitting one.
The sentence at the heart of the dairy truck drivers’ case was this one:
“The canning, processing, preserving, freezing, drying, marketing, storing, packing for shipment or distribution of:
(1) Agricultural produce;
(2) Meat and fish products; and
(3) Perishable foods.”
The truck drivers were ticked off about the fact that there was no comma after the word “shipment.” Apparently, because of that missing comma, they were forced to work overtime without compensation (no, I don’t understand it, either, but let’s stay focused—we’re excited about commas, remember?).
The judge mulled over their complaint (and, I suspect, checked his copy of Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style) and decided that the dairy company did, indeed, make a grammatical error—and that they were using that error to wiggle out of paying their truckers overtime. Now, they owe $5 million in back pay.
The moral of the story? Grammar matters—and commas are worth up to $5 million each (I’ve included 21 of them in this post, just in case any of you are feeling generous).
LOL! The revenge of the English majors! Gotta love it, Brenda.
Blessings!
I hope you have a great week, Martha!
Brenda: You did very well ! Using 21 commas in one short story certainly tells a story in itself. I am not sure what that story is but I am sure you, being a professional writer will be able to explain that in detail for sure.
I never knew the Dairy Industry had to use commas. I certainly never used 21 commas in all my years with the Dairy Industry but then who am I……. just a retired old fart from away back!
All the best Brenda and do keep up the great work.
Arnie
You may not have used 21 commas in a story when you were working for the dairy company, but you clearly placed your commas in the right places because you never got sued 🙂