Video of the Week: Who Invented The Oxford Comma?

Whether you use the Oxford comma or not — and you absolutely should — you'll probably find yourself in a conversation about it eventually. But very few people know the Oxford comma's history, not even its devotees. Thankfully, Vox has saved our bacon with a new video detailing just that.

Almost every print or digital publication has different rules regarding punctuation and spelling, often collected in a document called the style guide. Most style guides will include a note about that newspaper or website's policy on the Oxford comma. It's that important.

If you aren't aware, the Oxford comma — also known as the serial comma — is the final comma before "and" in a series. Your primary school teacher might have told you that it was optional, and that's true, to a certain extent. However, there are many situations in which the Oxford comma makes sense to use, not because it is grammatically incorrect to leave it out, but because it makes your meaning more clear.