DiscoverGrammar Girl Quick and Dirty Tips for Better WritingVonnegut’s semicolon rule. What age has to do with language. Chocolate donut.
Vonnegut’s semicolon rule. What age has to do with language. Chocolate donut.

Vonnegut’s semicolon rule. What age has to do with language. Chocolate donut.

Update: 2025-09-021
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1112. This week, we look at why you can safely ignore Kurt Vonnegut’s famous advice about ignoring semicolons. We also look at why taking punctuation advice from fiction writers may not be a good idea for business writing. Then, we look at how major life events, not age, change how you speak as you get older.  

The age segment was by Valerie Fridland, a professor of linguistics at the University of Nevada in Reno and the author of "Like Literally, Dude: Arguing for the Good in Bad English." You can find her at valeriefridland.com.

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Vonnegut’s semicolon rule. What age has to do with language. Chocolate donut.

Vonnegut’s semicolon rule. What age has to do with language. Chocolate donut.

Mignon Fogarty, Valerie Fridland