“Beware the Oxford Comma!

Saw this picture posted by a friend on Facebook.

According to Oxford Dictionaries, the usage of the comma as mentioned above is known as the Oxford comma primarily because it was traditionally used by printers, and editors at Oxford University Press.

Notably, the Oxford comma can assist one in clarifying the meaning of a sentence when the items in a list are not single words:

These shirts are available in pink and red, green and blue, and brown and black.

The Oxford comma is also known as the 'serial comma'.

For myself, I usually stay away from the Oxford comma. I prefer not to put a comma before the word "and" as too many commas in a sentence can make it an eye-sore. Moreover, if a sentence in itself requires so many commas, the sentence should be broken up into shorter sentences. Enough said.