Typo at footer?

Jobs, Press, & Help

[ThomasB]

Shouldn't it be "Jobs, Press & Help"? Just wondering if the BIG Google really made a mistake in their footer or if it's just my english?

[jcoronella]

Seems fixed. They must have a lot of lurkers here.

any stats on that for us admins?

[rfgdxm1]

What did it say before it was fixed? And, some user could have e-mailed them about the typo.

[ThomasB]

I still see "Jobs, Press, & Help" at all 10 DCs. Or is that the right english grammar?

[rfgdxm1]

Ahh...now I see ThomasB. "Jobs, Press, & Help" is correct American English grammar. Get out some style manuals and look up "serial comma." There are some style manuals that say "Jobs, Press, & Help" is the best way to punctuate. Over at zeal.com, the editorial guidelines require use of the serial comma that way. Over at dmoz.org, last I checked both ways is acceptable per the ODP guidelines.

Here's some style authorities for those interested:

[worldwidewords.org...]
[swcp.com...]

I like the example why the serial comma is best from that first source:

"Perhaps the best argument for the serial comma is that apocryphal book dedication: “To my parents, Ayn Rand and God”."

;)

[skipfactor]

last I checked both ways is acceptable per the ODP guidelines.

They're right, either way is correct American English grammar.

[ThomasB]

ah, ok. Thanks!

[rfgdxm1]

>They're right, either way is correct American English grammar.

And the ODP lists sites from around the world, so they have to consider more than American English grammar.

[kaled]

google.co.uk reads "Jobs, Press, & Help". In UK english this is definitely wrong. Commas should be omitted before the "and" that preceeds the final item in a list.

They're right, either way is correct American English grammar

Would that be the grammar that gave us "for free" where free means "at no cost" or "for nothing" therefore the "for" is redundant. Would it also be the grammar that gave us "The book was inside of its cover" instead of "The book was inside its cover"?

I'm sorry to be an to be an English purist but "American English grammar" is a contradiction. "American corruption of grammar" would be more accurate. However, what annoys me most is that people here in the UK pick up and repeat these corruptions of English (presumably from US television).

Rant over

Kaled.

[ThomasB]

Geolocation should be the solution. ;)