There is and always has been a split on whether or not to use the "Oxford comma" (or "serial comma", as it's sometimes known). The people who eschew it claim that it should only be used to prevent ambiguity. For instance:
"Last night I met my fiance's parents, the president of the United States[,] and a hooker."
Without the comma after the second item, it might read a bit differently.
But I am of the school that contends that if a comma is not the standard practice then the ambiguity remains because we'll all be using different standards to figure out what is or isn't ambiguous.
In my quote (which is a song lyric by Liz Phair), the qualities of "vulnerable and luscious" aren't paired together any more explicitly than "vulnerable and cool" or "tall and cool" or any other combination. I can't think of a single good reason to group them together by omitting a comma.
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ninetydegrees
Re: So random
on 2009-07-22 02:11 am (UTC)"Last night I met my fiance's parents, the president of the United States[,] and a hooker."
Without the comma after the second item, it might read a bit differently.
But I am of the school that contends that if a comma is not the standard practice then the ambiguity remains because we'll all be using different standards to figure out what is or isn't ambiguous.
In my quote (which is a song lyric by Liz Phair), the qualities of "vulnerable and luscious" aren't paired together any more explicitly than "vulnerable and cool" or "tall and cool" or any other combination. I can't think of a single good reason to group them together by omitting a comma.