[CTcard]

I must be trying to avoid productive work, as this thing got me thinking (too much about not-useful things).

If you care, the actual statute is subsection 3 at this link.
http://legislature.maine.gov/statutes/26...ec664.html

The overtime provision of this section does not apply to:
A. Automobile mechanics, automobile parts clerks, automobile service writers and automobile salespersons as defined in section 663. 
...
F. The canning, processing, preserving, freezing, drying, marketing, storing, packing for shipment or distribution of:
(1) Agricultural produce;
(2) Meat and fish products; and
(3) Perishable foods.

Given that there is only a single conjunction, isn't the grammatical meaning of this phrase well defined?


If "or distribution" was meant to describe another kind of packing then this would be a list without any conjunction to separate the last item of the list. For the most part we don't write that way.
Usually I would not write,

This morning I ate an apple, a pear, a biscuit.

but rather,

This morning I ate an apple, a pear, and a biscuit.

Plus you can tell from example A above that they weren't choosing to simply drop conjunctions before the final item as a kind of shorthand.

I thought that the possible source of confusion in not using the Oxford comma was when multiple conjunctions appear, typically because one of the items in the list itself has a conjunction; like "bacon and eggs" as a single breakfast choice, or what could have been "packing for shipment or distribution" if there were another item in the list separated with a conjunction.

Similarly, if jacketree's version of the meaning were correct, wouldn't there need to be an "and" before the word packing?


Of course if all of us can spend this much time arguing about the meaning, there is clearly ambiguity in effect even if not within the strict rules of grammar.

[CTcard]

I must be trying to avoid productive work, as this thing got me thinking (too much about not-useful things).

If you care, the actual statute is subsection 3 at this link.
http://legislature.maine.gov/statutes/26...ec664.html

The overtime provision of this section does not apply to:
A. Automobile mechanics, automobile parts clerks, automobile service writers and automobile salespersons as defined in section 663. 
...
F. The canning, processing, preserving, freezing, drying, marketing, storing, packing for shipment or distribution of:
(1) Agricultural produce;
(2) Meat and fish products; and
(3) Perishable foods.

Given that there is only a single conjunction, isn't the grammatical meaning of this phrase well defined?


If "or distribution" was meant to describe another kind of packing then this would be a list without any conjunction to separate the last item of the list. For the most part we don't write that way.
Usually I would not write,

This morning I ate an apple, a pear, a biscuit.

but rather,

This morning I ate an apple, a pear, and a biscuit.

Plus you can tell from example A above that they weren't choosing to simply drop conjunctions before the final item as a kind of shorthand.

I thought that the possible source of confusion in not using the Oxford comma was when multiple conjunctions appear, typically because one of the items in the list itself has a conjunction; like "bacon and eggs" as a single breakfast choice, or what could have been "packing for shipment or distribution" if there were another item in the list separated with a conjunction.

Similarly, if jacketree's version of the meaning were correct, wouldn't there need to be an "and" before the word packing?


Of course if all of us can spend this much time arguing about the meaning, there is clearly ambiguity in effect even if not within the strict rules of grammar.