So on Monday I pretty much "phoned it in". Found a GIF which tickled my fancy, threw a couple of sentences in and voilà, a rather lame post. Well, I thought it was a lame post. There may be folks out there who feel that all my posts are lame, but it's bad when even I recognize a lame post.
Sigh.
On another front, you may (or may not) have noticed a certain amount of quibbling in the comments as regards the placement of certain punctuation marks with respect to quotation marks.
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| Conan the Grammarian |
Not to name names, but Le Stylo Rouge (LSR) has been the main protagonist behind this pedantic desire to ensure that the blogs of the world follow proper English usage. Well, this one at least. At one point a link was provided to illustrate proper usage. As I'm too lazy to dig through all of my recent posts to find said link, I did my own research and was somewhat surprised with what I found.
Before I get into that I wish to remark that, as an amateur linguist with a lot of experience with languages other than my native tongue, language is a living thing. Language evolves. If you doubt me, read Shakespeare, people don't speak like that anymore. As folks use language, it changes.
Another thing to bear in mind is that the Queen's English is rather different from American English. As I read a lot, and much of what I read is by English authors, that tends to influence the way I write. Before you go off on a wild tangent with that one, here's another thing to keep in mind, I like doing things "my way", à la Sinatra, if you will. If a thing looks cumbersome or stupid to me, I won't do it, even if the rules say I must.
All that being said, here are the "rules" regarding punctuation inside or outside of quotation marks -
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| From here. |
Just so we're clear, obviously I prefer the UK convention.
That's all I have to say upon this particular matter.
Carry on...
... this pedantic desire to ensure that the blogs of the world follow proper English usage.
ReplyDeleteNot all blogs, just the ones I care about, and the ones where I feel the author should both care and know better. But... chacun à son goût. Like Mom used to say: "you can buy 'em books, send 'em to school, and all they do is..." (you know the rest).
C'est vrai. As to me "caring and knowing better," sometimes I do, sometimes I don't.
DeleteJe suis, après tout, un rebelle sans clause.
as the very model of a very english major grammarian, ms golightly, I protest! We'uns can spell what we like how we like with the punctuation we like~~~~ i've always liked these, whatever they're called.~~
ReplyDeleteFrom Wikipedia: The tilde (˜ or ~ or "Squiggly" ) is a grapheme with several uses. The name of the character comes from Portuguese and Spanish, from the Latin titulus meaning "title" or "superscription", though the term "tilde" has evolved and now has a different meaning in linguistics. Some may refer to it as a "flourish".
DeleteI knew it was called a tilde, but up until today I had never seen the word "grapheme" or heard it for that matter. (Note how I skirted the whole quotation mark/comma thing.)
Before you go off on a wild tangent with that one, here's another thing to keep in mind, I like doing things "my way", à la Sinatra, if you will
ReplyDeleteI occasionally have dinner with a retired English teacher. My FB and blog postings are dissected mercilessly. She brings print outs with highlighted areas. Content? She is a full throttle kool aid drinking Progressive.
Just to help her out, I like to go Mountain Man lingo on her. "Where did you get that possible sack (purse)?"
Ah English teachers. I'd like to say I miss them, but I don't.
DeleteI've always been flummoxed by that punctuation quotation thing. I've moved to the American and am comfortable with that now, the ? and the ! had me...now I know how to do it...thanks.
ReplyDeleteHow did you survive as and OAFS doing things "your way"? (Did I get that right?)
I survived doing things my way as an OAFS because typically I got things done in a very timely fashion. After a while the officers stopped asking questions.
DeleteI have, and no doubt always will be, flummoxed by punctuation. And seeing how it annoys Buck, I try to do it as much as possible. (Heh.)
Ooh, good call on the quotation mark/question mark. Inside or outside, "according to logic". Which means that one's wife will always do it the other way.
I only use the full stop when I am finished
ReplyDeleteThat hasn't happened, yet
I'm also slightly enamored of the Oxford comma
But the apostrophe's my favorite punctuation mark
The Oxford comma vexes me. Odd since I'd never heard of it until late last year.
DeleteI love the fact that your comment has no periods. I'm guessing you're not done yet?
(I do love the apostrophe so. I'm with you on that. I like parentheses too. But not as much as Suldog does.)
I'm kinda into creative punctuation...
ReplyDeleteBut, boy, do I cringe when I see misspelled words.
That said, I do, on occasion, like to substitute words (like, simonize for synchronize).
Like IT, the apostrophe is at the top of my list.
I'm all for creative correct apostrophization (and making up new words).
Punctuation has never been my strong suit. Malapropisms are a long time favorite. And nothing mortifies me more than hitting "Publish", and then seeing a misspelled word in the post. It's worse when it's a comment at another blog!
DeleteYour blog, your rules. Do what you want.
ReplyDeleteWell, yes. There is that.
DeleteI like the way you think.