APPRECIATION: ; (THE MARK, THE TATTOO)

George Orwell said unflattering things about the word utilize. The use of utilize says to me that 1.) the writer has not read and reread Orwell’s essay “Politics and the English Language” and that 2.) they didn’t read and reread their paper at the sentence level to consider each word. I think the word use is better used than utilized.

This sentence here is meant to serve as a transition.

Kurt Vonnegut said something quite clever about the semicolon. Does it ring in your ear right now?

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.

Kurt Vonnegut in A Man Without a Country

First rule? Ha. For a long time I treated this as some kind of sacred rule. That’s silly. I like Vonnegut. I’m drinking coffee out of a blue mug covered in Kurt quotes right now. “We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.” Etc.

Vonnegut was just a guy. I’ve read more than twenty of his books, and clearly respect and enjoy him as a writer and keep going back for more. He was a good writer; he was a bad husband. Etc. My morning brain is remembering reading an essay about this subject (Vonnegut’s advice on the semicolon). New York Times Draft column? Some writer was haunted by Vonnegut’s clever semicolon quip. Hmmm. Whatever. Me too.

I like the semicolon. The other day I saw someone with a semicolon tattoo on their calf and boy did that make me excited and confused. Just like it’s probably possible to judge a baristas microfoam skills by the number of tattoos and piercings they have, it seems like it is also possible to guess who would have an obscure punctuation mark tattoo. This is generalizing and stereotyping, but

A mark of my writing lately is becoming the sentence fragment ending with an unpunctuated but; I would consider this a problem, but 

Apparently the semicolon tattoo has become a recent trend, and is popping up all over. Project semicolon (www.projectsemicolon.org) is meant to present hope to “those who are struggling with mental illness, suicide, addiction and self-injury.” They advocate not ending the sentence, but adding a new one. Check out the website. If I starting getting into tattoos, I might put a semicolon next to my pine cone tattoo.

I appreciate semicolons, and advocate for their occasional use. Like the spork, or the exclamation point, they might not be a tool for every day, but they have their place. On another note, my scant research suggests that I also appreciate the vision of Project Semicolon, and seeing those tattoos.

Note to self: In a future edit, utilize more semicolons.

(See? Use use!)

Also, don’t give up; there are