the oxford comma

Having studied journalism through high school and college, I have been pretty drilled into the AP style rule to omit the oxford comma. (the last comma in a series: apples, bananas, and monkeys) In my editing minor, the style guide of choice was always Chicago, whose rule is to include the oxford comma. Personally, I tend to follow Chicago and use the oxford comma. It really doesn’t matter what you do as long as you are consistent. I know I probably go back and forth since I use both styles so often, so I have to make sure I know what I’m writing for. But I find when I’m doing personal writing, I generally do use that last little comma.

Like I mentioned, it doesn’t really matter what you do. So when I send emails, I’ll somewhat naturally (although it is of course on the back of my mind what rule I’m following) insert the oxford comma. However, things get complicated when I’m sending emails at work. Technically here in our editing and publications we follow AP style and omit the comma. But if I use it in my personal correspondence, will my coworkers think I don’t know my grammar rules? I am pretty relaxed for an editor, but hey, I know what the rules are and know how to use them…Of course, I’m probably mentioning this because I read emails from my coworkers and do notice if they use the oxford or not. So of course I think they’ll notice in mine as well, but do they know I’m a self-proclaimed Chicago-oxford-comma-rule follower? (Thought I’d throw some hyphens in there for fun..I don’t usually.) So every time I write a work email, I pause and contemplate….