I got a problem compromising on sentence structure because a reader has some sort of baseless issue with a semicolon. Sure you might be able to make it grammatically correct but the sentences could lose your intended effect. And replacing semis with commas aren't exactly making things grammatically correct. And I don't see how a dash is somehow better. I ain't used to seeing it and I just plain don't like it most of the time. So I want all authors to take the dashes out of their stories. Maybe I got some kind of issues with periods or commas too. I agree that semi is not to be abused(like anything) but avoiding it like the plague just makes no sense to me. If you let your story be a slave to somebody's possible personal pet peeves, your story is going to be pretty empty.
'Course I'm not serious; I know Brits don't wear berets, I'm not stupid. Everyone knows they wear lederhosen.
This Brit wears a beret never swilled any tea though However I am greatful you yanks leave the good punctuation stuff for us to play with Guess our readers can cope with a semi colon
Ahem. I used to. In my defence, it was part of the St. John Ambulance Brigade uniform. Only in the bedroom.