Modern Vespa

I am verbose, but the correct use of the ; and : escape me. Mind you, I have asked English majors, and they seem a bit wishy on it all. Like there is wiggle room. Use them in a sentence and teach me.

I slunk out of the room. Knowing what would come down the stairs I hesitated: We all did.

Did I use that right?

Because you're the music dude.

?si=BgOO6lxBqRi5EklX

It's the same usage as . or , I believe.

Your sentence would use the semi colon. Think of joining two sentences with it.

The colon is for listing items. Cylinder compressions are: 1 78, 2 76, 3 78, 4 77,5 75, 6 78. The pet carrier contained: flashlight, spare tube, water bottle, hat, sunscreen.

OBX dude, you need a book, Eats, Shoots & Leaves. It's not too big and it covers ; and : very well. Look it up, it's a fun read.

I had a colonoscopy earlier this year, but I still have a full colon.

That must of have made the colonoscopy unpleasant for the proctologist.

The Economist Style Guide says to use the semi-colon very sparingly...

The simple way to remember when/how to use a semi-colon is to remember that it is used when you could have ended a complete sentence (noun, verb, subject/object), but decided to continue on. Two examples:

1. My dad's birthday is today; but I haven't bought a present yet.
2. The project is due tomorrow; not that this means I've finished it, mind you.

As a poignant aside, if you ever see someone with a semi-colon tattooed on their body, it often means that they contemplated/attempted ending their own life, but then decided to continue on living.

That is correct, more confusion in the us of a "comma" vs a "semi-coon"

Comma is used when what comes before the comma would not be a complete sentence on its own.

Treppen,
I think in your first example, you could get rid of "but," no? I learned it's used in that way and you remove the "but/and."

Absolutely