Shatner comma

Named after the Canadian actor William Shatner, known for his dramatic pauses. Popularized by being featured on Urban Dictionary as the Urban Word of the Day for 20 December 2010.^[1]

Shatner comma (plural Shatner commas)

1. (humorous) A comma placed inappropriately between words, where no pause should occur in speech. [from 2009]
   • 2009 August 11, @Melmothulhu, Twitter‎^[1] (post), Twitter, Inc., archived from the original on 20 September 2025:

     The document that I'm reviewing has a terminal case of Shatner Comma. Not sure, if, that's a, valid comment though. May, have, to rephrase,.

   • 2011 June 30, Adam Martin, “Oxford Comma's Non-Demise Brings Twitter Comma Creation Fest”, in James Bennet, editor, The Atlantic‎^[2], Washington, D.C.: The Atlantic Monthly Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 3 July 2011:

     But the real laughs, for us, came with the introduction of all sorts of new commas we had never heard of before: Obviously CMS fans wanted to rename the Oxford comma the Chicago comma, which is fine. But did you know about the Shatner comma?

   • 2011 June 30, Carolyn Kellogg, “Goodbye, Oxford comma? Hello, Shatner comma!”, in Los Angeles Times‎^[3], Los Angeles, Calif.: Los Angeles Times Communications, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 1 July 2011:

     The Shatner comma! That, is, you, know, a really, fantastic, idea. […] And the Shatner comma? It, does, nothing, but, put, pauses, where, they, do, not, belong.

   • 2012 October 4 (indicated as 2013), John Langan, “Four Bases for Revising Writing”, in Exploring Writing: Paragraphs and Essays (Connect Learn Succeed), 3rd edition, New York, N.Y.: McGraw-Hill, →ISBN, part 2 (Basic Principles of Effective Writing), page 142:

     As entertainment continues to influence the development of language, maybe one day “Shatner commas” and their odd, purposeless positions will become mainstream and the fear of overusing commas will be “refudiated," just “like, like Valley Girls.”

   • 2013 February 3, Alexander Theroux, The Grammar of Rock: Art and Artlessness in 20th Century Pop Lyrics, Seattle, Wash.: Fantagraphics Books, →ISBN, pages 138–139:

     [Robert] Goulet struggled with language, wrapped it in hovering and irresolute self-interruptions. Every song he sang was a tractor-pull. In a way, he delivered a song the way John Wayne spoke, like a boar pisses—in jerks. […] It seems to be, but isn’t, a variation of the so-called “Shatner comma”—“You know, exactly, what, I mean”—the condition named after Star Trek actor who parses words out flit-like.

   • 2021 November 12, Axel Gearman, “Day One”, in Two Ways Out of Stockton, →ISBN:

     “Thanks, for, coming, here.” He spoke not with the Standard comma, the Oxford comma, the Walken comma, or the Shatner comma. No, this was something else.

   • 2025 June 3, Renée Ahdieh, “Firebreather”, in Park Avenue: A Novel, New York, N.Y.: Flatiron Books, →ISBN:

     Nate made mistakes, too. Just last week, she’d had to fix the Shatner commas in one of his briefs.