Are semicolons necessary? Options

[mipadi]

Kurt Vonnegut wrote, "Do not use semicolons. They are transvestite hermaphrodites representing absolutely nothing. All they do is show you've been to college." But I happen to like semicolons; I have been to college and I know how to use them properly. So who's right, Kurt Vonnegut or me?

[tokyo-rose]

changmin says (12:02:19 AM): http://www.createblog.com/forums/index.php...=239754&hl=
changmin says (12:02:26 AM): T-T I love semicolons
changmin says (12:02:45 AM): I've been lazy in using them when talking on AIM, though
kryogen1x (12:02:49 AM): i love semicolons too
kryogen1x (12:02:58 AM): i throw them in randomly to show that I've gone to college
changmin says (12:03:06 AM): are you jk
kryogen1x (12:03:18 AM): no for real; they make me sound astute
changmin says (12:03:24 AM): lol
changmin says (12:03:40 AM): I guess this is one issue that Vonnegut and I do not agree on

lol.

I've known how to use semicolons properly for a few years now (and I'm not in college yet; go, me), and will continue to use them. The English teacher I had in my junior year of high school actually required us to use a certain amount of semicolons in a paper after giving us a lesson on punctuation. It was boring for me, but interesting to see how some of my classmates didn't understand the point of a semicolon until that day.