Abraham Lincoln
“With educated people, I suppose, punctuation is a matter of rule; with me it is a matter of feeling. But I must say I have a great respect for the semi-colon; it’s a useful little chap.”
― Abraham Lincoln
Lewis Thomas
“Sometimes you get a glimpse of a semicolon coming, a few lines farther on, and it is like climbing a steep path through woods and seeing a wooden bench just at a bend in the road ahead, a place where you can expect to sit for a moment, catching your breath.”
— Lewis Thomas, M. D.
Kurt Vonnegut
“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, A Man Without a Country
George Will
Semicolons . . . signal, rather than shout, a relationship. . . . A semicolon is a compliment from the writer to the reader. It says: “I don’t have to draw you a picture; a hint will do.”
— George Will
Kathy Waller
I love semicolons.
My master’s thesis was rife with them.
But my critique group says I mustn’t use them any more. They say I should follow Kurt Vonnegut’s rule.
Mr. Vonnegut is wrong. The semicolon is not a transvestite hermaphrodite, representing absolutely nothing.
It is a compliment from the writer to the reader.
It is a wooden bench, where you can sit for a moment, catching your breath.
It’s a useful little chap.
When Mr. Vonnegut called the semicolon a transvestite hermaphrodite–well, bless his heart, he must have gotten up on the wrong side of the bed.
Kathy Waller 
Kathy, the “rule” that says don’t use semicolons is like all the other so-called rules of writing; they should be kept by an open window so you can toss them out when you need or want to.
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Earl, I have to admit that I did slip a semicolon into a story recently and no one noticed. Starting out, I was told to lose the semicolons and the long sentences because readers couldn’t handle them. I replied, snarkily and to myself, that I hoped to attract readers literate enough to read those sentences. But my critics had a point. So I transferred most of my semicolons to emails, where correspondents can just deal with them.
Thanks for your comment. I hope to see you soon?
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I’ll have to agree with Kurt, but only for fiction. You can use them in your blogs. I’ll let you.
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Thank you, Kaye. But did you see that Earl said I could toss out the rule if I needed or wanted to? I’ve become so accustomed to not using semicolons that I don’t miss them so much now. But once in a while, when I write two sentences that have that special connection, that little more-than-a-pause-but-less-than-a-full-stop feeling, sentences that cry out to be linked by a semicolon, and I drop in that period instead–well, I practically have to breathe into a paper bag to keep from hyperventilating. For some of us, punctuation is a very emotional issue.
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My editors sometimes make me use them, but “I” don’t put them in. When you see one in my writing, know that it’s not mine.
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OOH. Where can I get one of those editors?
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Kathy and Kaye, I’ve used semicolons occasionally in non-fiction, but you know what? More and more, I’m using a dash instead. To me, a dash is more dramatic and shouts, “Hold on! I’m not finished with this thought yet. Here’s more.”
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I like to use dashes, too. But on the first essay I wrote in college, the English professor scrawled that too many dashes can be boring. I’m sure I had used them liberally. Anyway, every time I put in a dash, I think about that warning and look around to see how many others I’ve used in the same vicinity. It’s sort of a punctuation paranoia.
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