I know it is not technically incorrect to use a semi-colon more than once in a sentence, but I think it makes for less than smooth reading to use it more than once in a sentence. What do other writers think?
Actually, I rarely use them, because they mess with the yin-yang dynamics. For me, writing is mathematics and geometry as much as anything else. I can literally skim through dozens of pages without reading a word, and point out exactly where they make assumptions and logic errors, just by the shapes of the paragraphs they write, and can tell you something about the author as well, never reading a word. Semi-colons are a bow to the fact the English language has two grammars, but they teach that it only has one.
I think it is fair to say that I always was better at writing than I was at mathematics. I wish I was good at mathematics. As for two grammars, what is and what should be are not always the same thing. According to the OED there are no such words as alright and onto. The OED says write all right and on to. There is a consensus among lexicographers that the use of non standard English in certain regions of the English speaking is not incorrect as long as the use is confined to such a region.
They teach that English has only one grammar, in order to promote common sense, which nobody has ever proven exists anywhere in the world. In other words, they are a culture of compulsive liars, with Donald Duck alone being credited with 4,000-25,000 lies during his time in office, and psychologists insisting he is suffering from dementia, because calling half the country compulsive lairs is not healthy, when a quarter of the population still insists the sun revolves around the earth. With teachers like that, who needs enemies? They are literally killing themselves and their students, with the workaholic white population imploding faster than any other on the planet.
I have done it before. And to my credit it seemed appropriate at the time, but I wasn't aware of the rule. I will try to avoid it. I frequently use the semi-colon to illustrate that while I'm still talking about the same thing I have switched gears or angles or something.
