Re: GRAMMAR: s's vs. s'

Lee Daniel Crocker (lcrocker@calweb.com)
Sun, 26 Jan 1997 19:32:12 -0800 (PST)


> Absolutely not. I "cherish" most of the American English rules, but that
> is one that I have declared war on. Because I have no beef with them, I
> don't join threads on topics such as the "corpus callosum". However,
> when it comes to quotation marks I adhere to the dictum "Sometimes you
> have to flout convention and do what you feel is right.", even under fire.
> I feel my reader has the right to know whether or not I have quoted a
> complete sentence.
>
> I recognize that strict rule-followers disagree with my usage, and post
> this mostly to make clear that I know the accepted usage so they don't
> waste their time arguing (or even noting) each case in which I stray from
> the rules. I grit my teeth over bad grammar most of the time, and just
> try to model the grammar rules that I espouse -- so can you.

Hear! Hear!

It encourages me that most British newspapers have chosen to do it
right, and even some American magazines have lately agreed that the
old typesetter's convention is no longer useful and logically dumb.
I, a "strict rule-follower", in that I believe languages and other
communication standards should be objectively defined and strictly
adhered to, put the damned quotes where they belong. Since there
is no standards body of the English language as there is with the
French, I feel justified in claiming that duty entirely to myself
(except, of course, on those few occasions I've been paid to write,
where I can only voice my objection and do it their way anyway).

On a more valuable topic: Have there been any serious attempts in
Extropian circles to learn and spread Lojban? I personally can't
imagine anything that would have a greater positive effect on the
minds of future generations.