[GlenBarrington]

is that there is either too much or too little. Sometimes both at the same time.

I'm guiltiy of excessive comma-ization. A habit I struggle mightily to break with only limited success. (I had to remove a comma after the word habit)

A result, no doubt in my mind, of several years of grade school teachers trying to get kids of my age to use any puctuation at all. As an 8 year old, I learned an extra comma couldn't hurt my grade and just might help. And a period at the end of anything that sort of sounds like a complete thought is just as good as a real sentence. I still struggle with semi-colons and I live with the shame on a daily basis.

I think punctuation is not well taught in the US. At least it wasn't taught well 50 years ago. Feel free to correct my puctuation!