Since I have all this unexpected free time, and since we've been complaining about hideous mispronunciations, I guess I'll explain why I consistently break a grammar rule. This is "correct":
I just finished reading "The Feminine Mystique." (I call that a self-contained joke.)
This is "incorrect":
I just finished reading "The Feminine Mystique".
Whoever came up with the rule that punctuation should go inside quote marks at the end of a phrase wasn't thinking clearly. Sometimes they should, but often it is clearer and more aesthetically pleasing to put the little buggers outside the quotes, and I will continue to do so until the Gods of English take note and change the rule.
2 comments:
You're totally right, of course, though I stick with the style sheet on this one. But you'd be on safe ground in England!
The real rule is that "a foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds". Of course, I don't believe in hobgoblins, so perhaps the phrase doesn't apply to me? :-)
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