Those Overzealous Punctuation Fiends

The American writer Paul Robinson, in his essay "The Philosphy of Punctuation" (2002), says that "pretentious and overactive semicolons" have reached epidemic proportions in the world of academe, where they are used to gloss over imprecise thought. "They place two clauses in some kind of relation to one another but relieve the writer of saying exactly what the relation is." ...it does sound as if Rbinson is a bit worked up. "The semicolon has become so hateful to me," he says in in seriousness, "that I feel almost morally compromised when I use it."

-Lynne Truss, Eats, Shoots & Leaves