Re:Prefer the British Style of Quotation Mark Punctuation ov...
by bambax on Wednesday September 15, 2021 @05:09AM
(#28536891)
The reason this problem exists is because computers and font libraries don't have all the characters we need. The point or comma should be at the same place as the quotes, under them, not before or after.
[ Parent
| on HN ]
Re:Prefer the British Style of Quotation Mark Punctuation ov...
by mdp2021 on Wednesday September 15, 2021 @06:05AM
(#28537261)
And this is why more simply, the quotation mark can imply the period;
similarly, the comma can be inherited by the formulation and implied (there is no sacrifice in '«That's too bad», John said, «but you can recover»' for '«That's too bad, but you can recover»' - the break is in the formulation and the explicit comma is redundant).
Re:Prefer the British Style of Quotation Mark Punctuation ov...
by alexanderskates on Wednesday September 15, 2021 @05:30AM
(#28537038)
And what of exclamation or question marks?
Re:Prefer the British Style of Quotation Mark Punctuation ov...
by coldtea on Wednesday September 15, 2021 @05:10AM
(#28536903)
>at the same place as the quotes, under them
What?
Re:Prefer the British Style of Quotation Mark Punctuation ov...
by OJFord on Wednesday September 15, 2021 @05:15AM
(#28536936)
See po's comment providing SE links for doing it in tex: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28536834
Re:Prefer the British Style of Quotation Mark Punctuation ov...
by bambax on Wednesday September 15, 2021 @05:27AM
(#28537010)
Ah, yes. Exactly that.
Re:Prefer the British Style of Quotation Mark Punctuation ov...
by coldtea on Wednesday September 15, 2021 @07:12AM
(#28537629)
OK, but why? Is this a convention?
Re:Prefer the British Style of Quotation Mark Punctuation ov...
by bambax on Wednesday September 15, 2021 @07:23AM
(#28537711)
It looks better and it saves space.
Re:Prefer the British Style of Quotation Mark Punctuation ov...
by coldtea on Wednesday September 15, 2021 @08:38AM
(#28538305)
I'd argue the first is subjective (and I don't think it looks better personally). It's also different to how we use the same punctuation otherwise.
It does save space, but I'd say that's neither here nor there. It isn't like space for an extra period at the end of a sentence was ever at a premium.
At best, for a whole 200+ page book, you'd save a page or so.