On Wednesday, June 29, 2022 at 11:41:53 AM UTC-7, Paul Epstein wrote:
> On Wednesday, June 29, 2022 at 7:34:40 PM UTC+1, Jerry Friedman wrote:
> > On Wednesday, June 29, 2022 at 10:46:11 AM UTC-6, Paul Epstein wrote:

> > > The most recent online version of LRB contains this letter:
> > > "I think it may have been helpful had a comma been omitted from the
> > > following sentence in Deborah Friedell’s piece on Norma McCorvey:
> > > ‘Amicus briefs supporting Roe were also filed by Margaret Mead, a
> > > former Miss America, and religious groups, including Episcopalians, Jews
> > > and the United Church of Christ’ (LRB, 23 June)."
> > >
> > > Although I have quoted the letter in its entirety (except for signature and
> > > title), the full context is available here:
> > > https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v44/n13/letters
> > >
> > > I can't understand the point the letter writer is making at all.
> > > I can't see any superfluous commas in the sentence.
> > > Surely, it would have been more helpful if the writer had told us
> > > which comma he's complaining about. The only valid comma complaint
> > > I can see is that it might be preferable to put a comma between "Jews"
> > > and "and". There would certainly be a pause after "Jews" if the letter was
> > > read aloud.
> > > But I don't see any basis for a too-many-commas complaint at all.
> > >
> > > Thank you for enlightening me.

> > One could read the sentence as saying that Margaret Mead was a former
> > Miss America. Without the comma after "America" that misreading probably
> > wouldn't happen, although the sentence would look rather awkward to me.
> > One way to clarify it would be to break down and identify the former Miss A.
> > (Marilyn Van Derbur, apparently).
> >
> > --
> > Jerry Friedman

> Thanks for resolving this.
> I think let's leave the sentence as is.
> What a silly, pointless pedantic letter!
> I've had two letters rejected from this journal (and none accepted).
> If they print this type of crap, what does that say about my own efforts?
>
> Paul
> Perhaps I should insert a comma between "pointless" and "pedantic".
> However, I don't want David Lowry to read this newsgroup and complain that my letter reads
> as saying that "silly" and "pointless" are the same thing.

> What a silly, pointless pedantic letter!

i think ... wry (George Sanders -esque) humor was intended
--- i vaguely got the joke (in the letter) right away.