What Happens Here, Stays Here

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We’ve all seen those cheesy Las Vegas ads that tout the benefits of having sex in Sin City (as if you can’t have it anywhere else and as if your spouse/significant other doesn’t care that you go to L.V. by youself or with a circle of horny friends).

The ad saying is:  "What happens here, stays here."

Now, the truth of this saying aside (and there is none), let’s look at the grammar.  I’ve read numerous grammar explanations that mandate a comma after the first verbal phrase.  But why?

Doesn’t "What happens here stays here" make the same sense without the interrupting comma? To me, this is another example of a misued and overused comma, the grammar books (and Oxford English Dictionary if they’ve weighed in on this) be damned.

Now, if you start with a dependent clause, finishing it with a comma is appropriate:  "When you sin here, it stays here."

But that doesn’t sell.  I guess clean grammar doesn’t sell overall.  LOL

Categories: Grammar Sucks

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