goldenquagsire
Rubber dinghy rapids, bro!
Eh. I'm personally not a big fan of serial commas. Odd, really; I generally overuse commas in the rest of my writing.
As for the issue of ambiguity, I feel that the use of dashes can help solve the problem. Instead of "they went to Oregon with Betty, a maid and a Catholic priest", we can have "they went to Oregon with Betty - a maid and a Catholic priest" - wherein one person, Betty, is both a maid and a priest; alternatively, "they went to Oregon with Betty - a maid - and a Catholic priest", wherein two people, one of whom was a priest and the other a maid named Betty, go to Oregon.
If it is recognised that the absence of a dash signifies a list, then "they went to Oregon with Betty, a maid and a priest" (add as many commas to that as you wish, I don't think it really makes a difference) should obviously denote three people going to Oregon.
As for the issue of ambiguity, I feel that the use of dashes can help solve the problem. Instead of "they went to Oregon with Betty, a maid and a Catholic priest", we can have "they went to Oregon with Betty - a maid and a Catholic priest" - wherein one person, Betty, is both a maid and a priest; alternatively, "they went to Oregon with Betty - a maid - and a Catholic priest", wherein two people, one of whom was a priest and the other a maid named Betty, go to Oregon.
If it is recognised that the absence of a dash signifies a list, then "they went to Oregon with Betty, a maid and a priest" (add as many commas to that as you wish, I don't think it really makes a difference) should obviously denote three people going to Oregon.
