John August on Obama’s Speech

21 January, 2009

And the semicolon in it:

Yes, a semicolon.

Best known to most Americans as half of a winking emoticon, this elite and misunderstood conjoiner has a friend in Obama. Yes, he’s using it as more of an oratorial pause than a semantic adhesive. And yes, this sentence likely went through several writers before its debut. But the fact our new President feels confident using it is another small cause for celebration on this very happy day.

If nothing else, an interesting perspective.