Come on, Fennel. Put up your dukes; it's fish against giraffe time.
LOL!
Actually, it isn't a fight at all--we're merely talking about two entirely different things.
Please note the original question:
Sullen thoughts brought on by more than an ill fitting wedding dress or having Babs huddled in the garden shed, as she’d been having doubts about this wedding lately– big ones
Followed by the suggestion of replacing the hyphen with a semi-colon:
Followed by my attempt to explain why a semi-colon isn't applicable
in this specific case:
I don't think a semi-colon can be used there, because "big ones" isn't an independent clause.
I
never said that all independent clauses
must be separated by semi-colons. I said since it
isn't an independent clause, then it
can't be separated by a semi-colon*, which is an entirely different assertion. The former, however, appears to be the point
you are arguing.
But it's short enough to be an exception to the semicolon rule. An em dash or comma would work fine prior to "big ones."
The point I was trying to make is that semicolons, and periods for that matter, are not always used to separate independent clauses.
I agree it's a comma splice, but that doesn't make it "always" incorrect. The exception to the rule I stated above would come into play.
*The
other use of semi-colons isn't applicable in this case, either. I thought that one was sufficiently far afield to not require comment.
Don't mind me. I'm just here to watch.