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I understand it's controversial, but people who don't put the final comma in a list before "and" which then groups the final two items as one erroneously.
Also, when people put a space before a comma. I'm not sure why they do that, but it's cemented in some people's brains who speak fluent English from childhood onward.
The Oxford comma! I am also a fan.
I sign this as well. It’s literally a character difference and there is no ambiguity at all. There is no downside.
The downside is that with appositive phrases present the Oxford comma can introduce ambiguity:
"Thanks to my mother, Mother Teresa, and the pope."
In the Oxford comma system this is ambiguous between three people (1. my mother 2. Mother Teresa 3. the pope), and two people (1. my mother, who is Mother Teresa 2. the pope). Without the Oxford comma it's immediately clear that ", Mother Teresa," is an appositive phrase.
The opposite happens as well, where Oxford commas allow true appositives to be unintentionally read as lists:
"They went to Oregon with Betty, a maid, and a cook", where Betty is the maid mentioned.
This ambiguity is easily fixed, of course, but then again so is any ambiguity from not using an Oxford comma as well.
Note that I use the Oxford comma myself, but it's still worth mentioning that both systems are ambiguous, just in different ways.
Interesting. I never thought of that before. Thanks!