Re: typestyle of punctuation

[WooF owlswick@xxxxxxxx]

Again: the custom is probably (I'm guessing here) done originally
to avoid having a period or a comma surrounded by white space --
which, on an old-fashioned letter-press, would either punch a
hole in the printed-on paper or risk snapping off the tip of the
lead type-face because of concentrated pressure at that point.

George H Scithers of owlswick@xxxxxxxx

On Thu, 4 Apr 2002, Robert Holmgren wrote:

> ** Reply to message from Patricia M Godfrey  on Sat, 30 Mar
> 2002 14:02:12 -0500
>
>
> > The general rule in publishing in
> > the US has been periods and commas inside quotation marks...
>
> I've never understood the rationale for this. For example, if I quote you on
> the matter of "periods and commas inside", it absolutely defies logic and
> violates accuracy that the last-previous comma in the present sentence should go
> before the terminal quotation mark (unless of course the comma were actually
> part of the quotation, which it isn't). What's the reasoning?
>
> -----------------------------
> Robert Holmgren
> holmgren@xxxxxxxx
> -----------------------------
>