Oxford Comma Dispute Is Settled as Maine Drivers Get $5 Million

NYT ^ | Feb 9, 2018 | DANIEL VICTOR

[Daffynition]

Ending a case that electrified punctuation pedants, grammar goons and comma connoisseurs, Oakhurst Dairy settled an overtime dispute with its drivers that hinged entirely on the lack of an Oxford comma in state law.

The dairy company in Portland, Me., agreed to pay $5 million to the drivers, according to court documents filed on Thursday.

[Vendome]

Celebrating commas?

Then this should be no step for stepping:
“, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”

[MadMax, the Grinning Reaper]

I was in a comma (actually 2 of them) for 6 days but they helped save my life though the pneumonia and brain seizures tried to end it.

Commas do save lives if they are managed properly. /sarc

[House Atreides]

I was taught that use of the “Oxford comma” was always preferable to not using it. Routine use of it avoids some potential ambiguity.

But I bet “Q” would prefer not to use it. ;-)

[Daffynition]

The Founding Fathers are turning over in their commas.

[cynwoody]

Seems to me that the two sentences mean different things.

No, they mean the same thing, albeit arrived at via different grammatical paths.

You have:

A. You have to milk it for all it's worth.
B. You have to milk it for all its worth.

These parse as:

A. You have to milk it for all (it is worth).
B. You have to milk it for all its worth.

it is worth == its worth

[Billthedrill]

Punctuation pedant and grammar goon, reporting as ordered, sir! And capitalization is critical as well. Consider “Let’s help our Cousin Jack off his horse.” Without that capital J you have a completely different sentence.

[21twelve]

I’m no grammar expert, but the it’s means it is.

The its is possessive. “That car? Its mine.” (I was going to say “Its Bob’s - but not sure about the ‘s after Bob!)

Anyhoo -

“You have to milk it for all its worth.” Seems to me, if it is correct, which others seem to say it is - the “its” is referring to the milk’s worth.

“You have to milk it for all [the milk’s] worth.”

[sparklite2]

How about...

You have to milk it for all the milking is worth.
You have to milk it for all the milk it possesses.

[Rocky]

Del Shannon was a big fan of commas.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nm2svFSCXfY

[shibumi]

"But you should never begin a sentence with the word “but.”

I used to worry about that.

But I changed my mind when I noticed Dr. Thomas Sowell doing it rather frequently.

[Texas Eagle]

On a similar note, it aggravates me to no end that nany people have come to begin almost every sentence with the word, “So”. Have you noticed this? It seems especially prevalent on Shark Tank. It bugs the crap out of me.

[shibumi]

[Daffynition]

Glad you got that all sorted out. :)

[Daffynition]

[Daffynition]

[Rocky]

Starting a sentence with “so”... maybe it got started by the boss in Office Space:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVmC0ktznNo

[Vendome]

They are in a rather deep sleep...

[cynwoody]

Consider “Let’s help our Cousin Jack off his horse.” Without that capital J you have a completely different sentence.

It's even better if you substitute Jill for Jack and her for his.

[Texas Eagle]

By golly, you may be right.

[cynwoody]

“You have to milk it for all its worth.” Seems to me, if it is correct, which others seem to say it is - the “its” is referring to the milk’s worth.

The "it" is the beef, that is to say, the issue. The reason the matter got to court.

Milking the beef for all it's worth simply means making the most of the issue. For whatever purpose.