On Mon, May 05, 2003 at 04:04:24PM -0500, Jay Nelson wrote:
> On Mon, May 05, 2003 at 09:23:11PM +0200, Thomas Klausner wrote:
> > On Mon, May 05, 2003 at 08:23:47PM +0100, David Laight wrote:
> > > > } Log Message:
> > > > } "a, b, and c" instead of "a, b and c".
> > > > 
> > > >      I know I've probably been a pain with questioning some of your
> > > > changes, so I just wanted to say that this time I'm agreeing with you.
> > > > It seems that most people don't put the "," before "and", but I always
> > > > do, and I think it is important to do so for the sake of clarity.
> > > 
> > > But the correct English is 'a, b and c'.....
> > 
> > Says who?
> 
> Strunk & White.

From http://www.bartleby.com/141/strunk.html (William Strunk, Jr. (1869-1946).  The Elements of Style.  1918.)
   2. In a series of three or more terms with a single conjunction, use a comma after                               
      each term except the last.                                                                                    
      Thus write,                                                                                                   
             +-----------------------------------------------------------------+                                    
             | red, white, and blue                                            |                                    
             |-----------------------------------------------------------------|                                    
             | honest, energetic, but headstrong                               |                                    
             |-----------------------------------------------------------------|                                    
             | He opened the letter, read it, and made a note of its contents. |                                    
             +-----------------------------------------------------------------+                                    
      This is also the usage of the Government Printing Office and of the Oxford                                    
      University Press.                                                                                             
      In the names of business firms the last comma is omitted, as                                                  
                                +----------------------------+                                                      
                                | Brown, Shipley and Company |                                                      
                                +----------------------------+                                                      
      The abbreviation etc., even if only a single term comes before it, is always                                  
      preceded by a comma.                                                                                          

So White changed that? [I don't have Strunk&White handy...]
 Thomas