[Apologies if you didn't want a private copy of this mail; I haven't worked out whether you read this mailing list.]
On Sun, Nov 02, 2003 at 06:29:28PM -0500, Alexander Winston wrote: > On Sun, 2003-11-02 at 16:23, Joey Hess wrote: > > Alexander Winston wrote: > > > Hello. It has come to my attention that you have requested English > > > proofreading from native English speakers. While I have not looked over > > > the Web site in great detail yet, a large error I have noticed that > > > punctuation always seems to be missing from inside quotations. For > > > example, I spotted this: > > > > > > no browser specific "extensions". > > > > > > In this case, it should read thusly: > > > > > > no browser-specific "extensions." > > > > This is common usage amoung technically inclined, to whom the exact > > content of the quotation, right down to the punctuation, is often > > very important. > > Regardless of how commonplace this usage is, it should not be accepted. > Of course there are situations where punctuation exists in the original, > but such predicaments can be explained away with a miniscule note from > the editor without sacrificing the quality and the intended message. This is a disputed point of punctuation - in particular, standard modern British English and American English usages differ - so "should not be accepted" is too strong a statement. The style used on the Debian web site is known as "logical quoting". Sources cite the "Oxford Dictionary for Writers and Editors" as support, among others. I understand that the American style, with punctuation within quotations marks, originated as a point of typography to make it easier to kern combinations of quotation marks, commas, and full stops, not as a point of grammatical correctness. Modern typography is better, which is perhaps why logical quoting is regaining acceptance. Given the disagreement among style manuals (which is not an uncommon occurrence anyway), I say go for the style that actually makes good sense, namely quoting what you mean to quote. When the punctuation is part of the quoted phrase, quote it; when it isn't, don't. Cheers, -- Colin Watson [EMAIL PROTECTED]
