Using a semicolon between elements in a list [duplicate]

I don't have S&W with me, but I think Strunk said to use commas unless there might be some confusion as to which items belonged together.

In your example, there are only single items and no confusion. Commas are preferred.

"...trip to Europe: shoes, shirts, boot, hats, and gloves."

But note how the items are separated more cleanly by using semicolons to separate:

"...colors of European flags: blue and white; blue, white, and red; green, red, and black; blue and yellow."

In that example, the semi-colon doesn't seem to provide anything that a comma doesn't. However, a semi-colon can be useful in punctuating a list of longer items when they are set out like this:

The choice for the country is between:

investing in the economy;

promoting overseas development; and

paying higher wages.