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interests / alt.usage.english / Re: ( Then, Karen, my wife, and I had great sex. )

( Then, Karen, my wife, and I had great sex. )

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Subject: ( Then, Karen, my wife, and I had great sex. )
From: henha...@gmail.com (henh...@gmail.com)
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by: henh...@gmail.com - Mon, 28 Aug 2023 06:04 UTC

"My wife, Karen, and I had super sex." -- How would you interpret this?

Would you interpret this as "Karen" being the wife's name, or would you interpret the wife and Karen to be separate people?

G-guys ...? What's happening? Why is my beloved Oxford comma creating an ambiguity rather than prevent it?

Re: ( Then, Karen, my wife, and I had great sex. )

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From: vpaereru...@yahoo.com.invalid (Hibou)
Newsgroups: alt.usage.english
Subject: Re: ( Then, Karen, my wife, and I had great sex. )
Date: Mon, 28 Aug 2023 07:54:22 +0100
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by: Hibou - Mon, 28 Aug 2023 06:54 UTC

Le 28/08/2023 à 07:04, henh...@gmail.com a écrit :
>
> "My wife, Karen, and I had super sex." -- How would you interpret this?
>
> Would you interpret this as "Karen" being the wife's name, or would you interpret the wife and Karen to be separate people?
>
> G-guys ...? What's happening? Why is my beloved Oxford comma creating an ambiguity rather than prevent it?

Because it's not clear it's an Oxford comma. It is only if there are
three of you.

The main thing in such circumstances is not to let anything as small as
a comma come between you.

Re: ( Then, Karen, my wife, and I had great sex. )

<82b31121-ee68-4b82-8832-8d272b3406f8n@googlegroups.com>

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Subject: Re: ( Then, Karen, my wife, and I had great sex. )
From: henha...@gmail.com (henh...@gmail.com)
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by: henh...@gmail.com - Mon, 28 Aug 2023 07:31 UTC

On Sunday, August 27, 2023 at 11:54:26 PM UTC-7, Hibou wrote:
> Le 28/08/2023 à 07:04, henh...@gmail.com a écrit :
> >
> > "My wife, Karen, and I had super sex." -- How would you interpret this?
> >
> > Would you interpret this as "Karen" being the wife's name, or would you interpret the wife and Karen to be separate people?
> >
> > G-guys ...? What's happening? Why is my beloved Oxford comma creating an ambiguity rather than prevent it?

> Because it's not clear it's an Oxford comma. It is only if there are
> three of you.
>
> The main thing in such circumstances is not to let anything as small as
> a comma come between you.

( Then, Karen, my wife, and I had great sex. )

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Then#Proper_noun

Statistics
According to the 2010 United States Census, Then is the 14227th most common surname in the United States, belonging to 2108 individuals. Then is most common among Hispanic/Latino (65.75%) and White (24.43%) individuals.

Re: ( Then, Karen, my wife, and I had great sex. )

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From: ianREMOV...@g3ohx.co.uk (Ian Jackson)
Newsgroups: alt.usage.english
Subject: Re: ( Then, Karen, my wife, and I had great sex. )
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by: Ian Jackson - Mon, 28 Aug 2023 12:50 UTC

In message <uchgau$1jg1t$1@dont-email.me>, Hibou
<vpaereru-unmonitored@yahoo.com.invalid> writes
>Le 28/08/2023 à 07:04, henh...@gmail.com a écrit :
>> "My wife, Karen, and I had super sex." -- How would you interpret
>>this?
>> Would you interpret this as "Karen" being the wife's
>>name, or would you interpret the wife and Karen to be separate people?
>> G-guys ...? What's happening? Why is my beloved
>>Oxford comma creating an ambiguity rather than prevent it?
>
>Because it's not clear it's an Oxford comma. It is only if there are
>three of you.
>
>The main thing in such circumstances is not to let anything as small as
>a comma come between you.
>
To avoid ambiguity, the obvious way to write would be "My wife (Karen)
and I had super sex" (unless, of course, it actually was a gleesome
threesome).
--
Ian
Aims and ambitions are neither attainments nor achievements

Re: ( Then, Karen, my wife, and I had great sex. )

<d8786dce-4305-49a9-b437-4bd82f81bb36n@googlegroups.com>

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Subject: Re: ( Then, Karen, my wife, and I had great sex. )
From: petertda...@gmail.com (Peter T. Daniels)
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by: Peter T. Daniels - Mon, 28 Aug 2023 14:25 UTC

On Monday, August 28, 2023 at 8:50:26 AM UTC-4, Ian Jackson wrote:
> In message <uchgau$1jg1t$1...@dont-email.me>, Hibou
> <vpaereru-u...@yahoo.com.invalid> writes
> >Le 28/08/2023 à 07:04, henh...@gmail.com a écrit :

> >> "My wife, Karen, and I had super sex." -- How would you interpret
> >>this?
> >> Would you interpret this as "Karen" being the wife's
> >>name, or would you interpret the wife and Karen to be separate people?
> >> G-guys ...? What's happening? Why is my beloved
> >>Oxford comma creating an ambiguity rather than prevent it?
> >Because it's not clear it's an Oxford comma. It is only if there are
> >three of you.

(It's not even a serial comma, unless it is indeed about a mini-orgy._)

> >The main thing in such circumstances is not to let anything as small as
> >a comma come between you.
>
> To avoid ambiguity, the obvious way to write would be "My wife (Karen)
> and I had super sex" (unless, of course, it actually was a gleesome
> threesome).

The only reason to add the wife's name is if there's more than one wife
(and the hearer knew their names).

If the speaker is adding unknown info, then no commas or parentheses
does the trick.

It's clearer where the number isn't assumed to be 1.

My son Jeffrey got arrested last night.

His brother Fabian went down and bailed him out.

My third son Quentin was out of town.

Re: ( Then, Karen, my wife, and I had great sex. )

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From: lar...@invalid.ca (lar3ryca)
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Subject: Re: ( Then, Karen, my wife, and I had great sex. )
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by: lar3ryca - Mon, 28 Aug 2023 19:11 UTC

On 2023-08-28 06:50, Ian Jackson wrote:
> In message <uchgau$1jg1t$1@dont-email.me>, Hibou
> <vpaereru-unmonitored@yahoo.com.invalid> writes
>> Le 28/08/2023 à 07:04, henh...@gmail.com a écrit :
>>> "My wife, Karen, and I had super sex." -- How would you interpret
>>> this?
>>> Would you interpret this as "Karen" being the wife's
>>> name, or would you interpret the wife and Karen to be separate people?
>>> G-guys ...? What's happening? Why is my beloved
>>> Oxford comma creating an ambiguity rather than prevent it?
>>
>> Because it's not clear it's an Oxford comma. It is only if there are
>> three of you.
>>
>> The main thing in such circumstances is not to let anything as small
>> as a comma come between you.
>>
> To avoid ambiguity, the obvious way to write would be "My wife (Karen)
> and I had super sex" (unless, of course, it actually was a gleesome
> threesome).

Or if the sex wasn't super.

--
What do you do when you see an endangered animal that eats only
endangered plants?
~ Steven Wright

Re: ( Then, Karen, my wife, and I had great sex. )

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From: Ken...@invalid.news.com (Ken Blake)
Newsgroups: alt.usage.english
Subject: Re: ( Then, Karen, my wife, and I had great sex. )
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by: Ken Blake - Mon, 28 Aug 2023 20:46 UTC

On Mon, 28 Aug 2023 13:11:03 -0600, lar3ryca <larry@invalid.ca> wrote:

>On 2023-08-28 06:50, Ian Jackson wrote:
>> In message <uchgau$1jg1t$1@dont-email.me>, Hibou
>> <vpaereru-unmonitored@yahoo.com.invalid> writes
>>> Le 28/08/2023 à 07:04, henh...@gmail.com a écrit :
>>>> "My wife, Karen, and I had super sex." -- How would you interpret
>>>> this?
>>>> Would you interpret this as "Karen" being the wife's
>>>> name, or would you interpret the wife and Karen to be separate people?
>>>> G-guys ...? What's happening? Why is my beloved
>>>> Oxford comma creating an ambiguity rather than prevent it?
>>>
>>> Because it's not clear it's an Oxford comma. It is only if there are
>>> three of you.
>>>
>>> The main thing in such circumstances is not to let anything as small
>>> as a comma come between you.
>>>
>> To avoid ambiguity, the obvious way to write would be "My wife (Karen)
>> and I had super sex" (unless, of course, it actually was a gleesome
>> threesome).
>
>Or if the sex wasn't super.

Super sex, super sex, you get more sex with super sex.

Re: ( Then, Karen, my wife, and I had great sex. )

<ucjceg$1tk9n$1@dont-email.me>

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From: pet...@pmoylan.org.invalid (Peter Moylan)
Newsgroups: alt.usage.english
Subject: Re: ( Then, Karen, my wife, and I had great sex. )
Date: Tue, 29 Aug 2023 10:00:16 +1000
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by: Peter Moylan - Tue, 29 Aug 2023 00:00 UTC

On 29/08/23 05:11, lar3ryca wrote:
> On 2023-08-28 06:50, Ian Jackson wrote:
>> In message <uchgau$1jg1t$1@dont-email.me>, Hibou
>> <vpaereru-unmonitored@yahoo.com.invalid> writes
>>> Le 28/08/2023 à 07:04, henh...@gmail.com a écrit :
>>>> "My wife, Karen, and I had super sex." -- How would you
>>>> interpret this?
>>>> Would you interpret this as "Karen" being the wife's
>>>> name, or would you interpret the wife and Karen to be separate people?
>>>> G-guys ...? What's happening? Why is my beloved
>>>> Oxford comma creating an ambiguity rather than prevent it?
>>>
>>> Because it's not clear it's an Oxford comma. It is only if there are
>>> three of you.
>>>
>>> The main thing in such circumstances is not to let anything as small
>>> as a comma come between you.
>>>
>> To avoid ambiguity, the obvious way to write would be "My wife (Karen)
>> and I had super sex" (unless, of course, it actually was a gleesome
>> threesome).
>
> Or if the sex wasn't super.

When a friend of mine was offered super sex, he chose the soup.

--
Peter Moylan http://www.pmoylan.org
Newcastle, NSW

Subject	Author
( Then, Karen, my wife, and I had great sex. )	henh...@gmail.com
Re: ( Then, Karen, my wife, and I had great sex. )	Hibou
Re: ( Then, Karen, my wife, and I had great sex. )	henh...@gmail.com
Re: ( Then, Karen, my wife, and I had great sex. )	Ian Jackson
Re: ( Then, Karen, my wife, and I had great sex. )	Peter T. Daniels
Re: ( Then, Karen, my wife, and I had great sex. )	lar3ryca
Re: ( Then, Karen, my wife, and I had great sex. )	Ken Blake
Re: ( Then, Karen, my wife, and I had great sex. )	Peter Moylan