The most commonly misused punctuation mark has got to be the comma. It amazes me how many blogs I read on the intarwebs that are, punctuated, like this, you know, what I mean? Either there is one comma for every two to four words or the entire post is written with little to no punctuation resulting in an amazing run-on that twists the mind into knots worthy of a contortionist with a meth addiction or some such ridiculous metaphor.
I think the problem really lies with high school English teachers. This odd breed of creature likes to fill young minds up with lists of rules that, it turns out, aren't rules at all. In fact, the Chicago Manual of Style, where these rules supposedly come from, is filled with suggestions, using words like "should" or "may" to describe most of the rules English teachers love to quote.
Because English teachers serve merely to confuse most students with these rules, they release young people out into the wild completely uncertain of how to use their own language. And since commas can be used simply for structure or to imply a brief pause, this punctuation mark is the first, most obvious casualty in the war against proper English.
So what can be done? Bloggers can forget about "the rules" and follow two simple guidelines: Try not to use commas. Keep your sentences to one or two lines. Is that really so hard?
