American grammar.

It would be normal to use a comma between the first two items saving the "and" for the final. In other words, "apples, oranges and peaches."

 

As an English major in college, I was taught that 'and' is used once in a sentence, unless a list is involved.

 

I have never heard of that, that ‘and’ should only be used once in a sentence.

I can think of any number of well-published and highly-regarded American novelists who didn’t/don’t abide by that, either. The first that comes to my mind is William Faulkner. Read Sanctuary, or Light in August, or Absalom! Absalom! Some of his sentences go on for an entire page.

 

I hadn't heard that rule, but it makes sense. Unfortunately, like many Americans, I learned English from Peewee Herman.
"It's like you're unravelling a big cable-knit sweater that someone keeps knitting and knitting and knitting and knitting and knitting and knitting and knitting and knitting and knitting..."

 

"And" can only be used once in a sentence to connect big ideas. "And" can be used two times in a sentence when making a list of things.
And, And, And the 30 Minute Lesson to End Run-On Sentences Using And — Speech Language Literacy Lab

 

Good grief.

 

This idea distresses me, like poetry that doesn't rhyme.

 

Then it is just prose.

 

I think that the formal language in the US and UK have historical roots, and should be very similar. In the U. S. there is a highly regional diversity in the common language. If individuals who have a High School Education only, and decide to actually write something (rather than text), who knows what will be written down, from Southern Drawl to Ebonics, Jive, rural and Urban etc.. What amazes me, now that British Programs are on our televisions daily, words are used commonly that we recognize but rarely use. The real challenge is for recently immigrated South Asians, who take idioms seriously, and try to cope with idiomatic differences between the U. S. and the U. K. in conversational language. That is entirely a different challenge.

 

I am surprised that there is not more interest in this. I see that you are in the UK. When I last visited the path of my ancestors in Norwich and Exeter, I found that the use of the Queens/Kings English varied a lot depending on what city you were in. London had a wide variety of "dialects" being used in the various shops and museums. In Exeter and Tonbridge Wells I felt that I was back in the USA on a weekend day. In Edinburgh I felt like I was transported to another country. I recall telling one store keeper that I was from the US and could he speak in English. He seemed insulted and said hat he was speaking in English. It is all fun to debate as long as an Australian does not enter into the conversation. Thanks for the comment Wally

 

I can see "and" more than once in a complex sentence, or in phrases that contain the word like "salt and pepper hair," "trials and tribulations," etc. Or is the latter trivial for this case?

 

Not necessarily. Google "Oxford comma".

 

Like all rules, their are exceptions, but 'and' should rarely be used more than once in a sentence. The exceptions normally involve a coma included between the and's
For example, asking someone about their desert after dinner.
Would you prefer apple crumble and custard, or fruit salad and cream.?
To some extent, this could be seen as a list, although only two options were involved.

If I find myself needing to use 'and' more than once, I normally restructure the sentence.
In my example, I would probably have said, "apple crumble WITH custard".

 

Speaking of AND....

 

And then,10% discount.
And then, another 10% discount
And so on
Unfortunately, being a parabolic progression, he would never get his food for free.
And then, try to explain why not in Chinese.

 

As Churchill wrote: "Two peoples divided by a common language."