Re: periods inside quotation marks?

["D. Margulis" <ampersandvirgule -at- WORLDNET -dot- ATT -dot- NET>]

Mason, Catheryn wrote:
>
> Shannon:
> I'll pass along what I was once told; it clarified the entire
> punctuation/quotation issue for me. The old printing presses used blocks
> for letters and for some punctuation marks (colon, semi-colon,
> exclamation mark). Half blocks were used for other punctuation marks so
> that the printer could save space and money (comma, period, quotation
> marks). When two half blocks could be used (a period and a quotation
> mark) they were placed in the space of a single block, literally forming
> one letter space. When two entire blocks had to be used, the quotation
> block was placed before the punctuation mark ( "; ). As technology
> progressed, "lower case" punctuation (for lack of a better term) moved
> inside the quotation marks and "upper case" punctuation remained out, or
> following. That's why we put a period inside quotation marks and a
> semi-colon outside. I found that really enlightening, since the "rule"
> made no sense to me otherwise. Anyway, all to say that I could be wrong,
> but I've never heard of any flexibility with that rule.


Catheryn,

You were badly misinformed on all counts, no doubt by a well-meaning
soul. There is no historical basis for this story, so please just chalk
it up to the technological equivalent of folk etymology (q.v.) and
refrain from repeating it. (This is meant only to be helpful, as I am
sure you are a nice person who does not wish to go around
unintentionally spreading misinformation. Please do not misconstrue this
as a flame.)

The actual history of composition and the conventions of punctuation
(which vary from country to country and language to language, by the
way) is fascinating, but it is lengthy and way off topic for this list.

Dick