this post was submitted on 09 Oct 2026
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[–] Zensate@lemmy.world 12 points 8 hours ago* (last edited 8 hours ago) (2 children)

I use semi-colons a lot. People are so intimidated by them and they refuse to admit how simple they are; it's literally the combination of a comma and a colon, that's it. Use it for when both are needed.

[–] NeatNit@discuss.tchncs.de 14 points 7 hours ago* (last edited 7 hours ago) (1 children)

That is incorrect (to my understanding), it's the combination of a comma and a period; it only resembles a colon in appearance.

[–] Goodeye8@piefed.social 10 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

My colon definitely doesn't look like that and if yours does I suggest a doctor's visit.

[–] NeatNit@discuss.tchncs.de 7 points 6 hours ago

~~Fun fact:~~ Mildly annoying fact: a surgery to remove a colon is called a colectomy. A surgery to remove part of a colon is called hemicolectomy. Come on!!! Semi- and hemi- are practically synonyms!

And I can't quite remember or find right now what they call what remains, but I distinctly remember that it's not called a semicolon. Medicine is so dull.

[–] Zarobi@aussie.zone 2 points 6 hours ago (3 children)

It's just a super comma; you can more-or-less use it as a drop-in replacement for EM-Dashes that LLNs ruined for everybody. Also useful for long, complicated lists that feature too many commas and get confusing to read

[–] Telodzrum@lemmy.world 2 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

This isn’t right. Both sides of a semicolon need to be independent clauses. That’s not the case with a comma or an em dash; both of which serve similar, but largely distinct, purposes.

[–] MrQuallzin@pie.eyeofthestorm.place 1 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

Independent but related clauses is how I treat it. I wouldn't put a semicolon between unrelated clauses.

[–] Telodzrum@lemmy.world 1 points 2 hours ago

That’s exactly it.

[–] tetris11@feddit.uk 3 points 6 hours ago

LLN

Law of Large Number ruined everything

[–] Damage@slrpnk.net 2 points 6 hours ago

Qwen loves semicolons. It does love dashes as well