h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Mind you, I prefer the look of single quotes, it is just that double quotes are more efficient.

B

Is 'dilly-dallying' what one does when on a doddle?
Or is that 'shilly-shallying'?


"Unattended luggage!"

~jwf~

I don't really understand why the second option is any clearer, Ben. Not that both aren't understandable.

Although I'd want to insist on a comma at the end of that first quotation.

Everyone prefers double quotes. And nobody notices that they've been reading single quotes in books all these years.

I noticed it when I was a kid reading the (insufferable) Narnia books in a British edition.

I wondered why Puffin was doing it wrong.

>Everyone prefers double quotes.<

Really?

I don't give a stuff. I only have eyes for semi colons

That's a good point, Gnomon. You read for the content, not the orthography. And you don't notice, half the time.

I don't. Not unless I'm editing. Or something inconsistent suddenly appears. Then I think, 'What the...?'

I always used quotation marks - as in " - because that's their name, and I always figured that's what they were for. Never really thought about it much before though. I tend to assume that if someone has used an apostrophe instead, it's because they are paraphrasing rather than quoting exactly, or using it for emphasis (see every damn BBC 'headline' these days).

I'm not very... uh... grammatically learned though.

My older brothers were taught grammar but by the time I got to school, it was no longer taught. I had my brothers' books, though, and read up on it myself. I also encountered it when learning French, German, Latin and Irish, so some of it rubbed off on me. (Mind you, Irish grammar is so different from all the rest that it is not much use. Irish is so different it doesn't even have words for yes and no.)

stupid english grammar "jolly hockey sticks' and all that trash 'bah humbug"

Effers, I have the perfect picture to illustrate your entry on American English when you write it. It's a street sign in San Francisco which says "No Solicitors".

I tend to use single quotes when being sarcastic as I think they lend a more appropriate tone.

I agree with your post 40, Ben. That's the way I would write it, for the same reasons.

Interesting what you said about Russian punctuation, Sol. I learned a bit of Russian, but I don't ever remember using any punctuation. Maybe that would have come later, or maybe I just have a bad memory! I still enjoy trying to pronounce Russian words I see on TV or in the paper. Sometimes, once you start to say it, it becomes obvious what the word is. I love that. I really should start Russian again.

>> Irish is so different it doesn't even have words for yes and no

Oooooooohhhh! Interesting. Is that true for other Celtic / Gaelic languages, and how do you express 'yes' or 'no' in Irish?

*tries REALLY hard not to post "To be sure"*

*fails*

Indeed. You notice it even in English.

I really should take an Irish course; I've only managed to pick up a few words from the radio.

In Irish, you indicate the affirmative ("yes") by repeating the pronoun and verb.

Question: Is this the right road to Ballydehob?
Answer: It is.

Question: Did Mary walk the whole way into town for the dance?
Answer: She did.

Question: Do you want an ice cream?
Answer: I do not.

You will see this pattern in English spoken in Ireland too.

So it is.

"*tries REALLY hard not to post "To be sure"*"

Yaaaay! For once I have more willpower than someone!

Does anyone else cringe when single quotes are done `thus' and double quotes are done ''thus''? Or even ``thus''?