November 13 - Use Another Semicolon; We've Got Plenty

Of all the punctuation marks out there, I think it's safe to say that semicolons get the worst rap.
Periods put an end to whatever thought you're entertaining.
And exclamation points drive your point home!
Question marks kind of leave you up in the air, don't they?
As for colons: They're OK.
But semicolons? They get no respect. Think about it. They're less than colons. They're semicolons.
A common joke among the punctuation world:

Q: What's the only thing worse than being a colon?
A: Being a semicolon; they're such douches.

Enough.
I say we bring the semicolon back; it's long overdue. See, there's one right there. They're not that hard to use. You just tack a related idea on to the coattails of the sentence that precedes it; in doing so, you save a period. With the dollar as weak as it is these days, we could all stand to be a bit more judicious with our use of periods.
Not so with semicolons; they're so abundant. Years and years of underuse has resulted in the nation's semicolon reserves virtually bursting at the seams; it's time we put them to use.
So go on, use a semicolon. And save that period for a time when you really need it; for example, at the end of a story.