Logic vs Convention In Punctuation
The other day I was wondering about the proper placement of periods and quotation marks. As I thought, the proper usage is to always place closing punctuation (periods, question marks, exclamation points) inside the quotation marks.
But it turns out this is only true for American English. British English uses punctuation logically, using closing punctuation inside the quotes if it is a part of the quote, and outside if it is a part of the underlying sentence.
But what is more disturbing is the reason American English developed this way. According to Tina Blue, it is strictly due to the quirks of old fashioned printing presses. The printers decided to always put them inside quotations so they’d get a consistent visual result.
But it turns out this is only true for American English. British English uses punctuation logically, using closing punctuation inside the quotes if it is a part of the quote, and outside if it is a part of the underlying sentence.
So the question is, at what point do you flaunt convention because it just isn’t logical? After all, convention is only convention because enough people did it that way, and it’s only going to change once enough people wake up and quit the habit.
