Logical Punctuation

[rampling]

I just added the following stuff to my userinfo page:Logical Punctuation: I use logical punctuation everywhere, unless someone forces me to change it for publication or suchlike. I hate the illogic of the standard system, and hate the confusion that it so easily engenders. Here's a quote I love: Me, I use logical punctuation everywhere,

Comments

[cjsmith]

Do you mean stuff like putting close-quotes before a period or question mark?

If so, MEEEEEEEEEE TOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Or perhaps

If so, "MEEEEEEEEEE TOOOOOOOOOOOOO!".

[rampling]

Oh yes, precisely! In a comment else-LJ, I wrote: "So when a friend says he saw and liked the film, I don't have a lot I can say directly to him other than "I've heard that that film has a lot of misuse of science in it."." That is, the original comment contained the was punctuated: So when a friend says he saw and liked the film, I don't have a lot I can say directly to him other than "I've heard that that film has a lot of misuse of science in it.".
I think it was when I was writing that little «.".» (whoa, how the hell can one quote that without utter confusion! I tried a desperate solution!) that I realized I wanted to make a Public Pronouncement in favor of Logical Punctuaion.

Hmmm, writing this bit now, I realize it's essentially cut-n-paste punctuation. Cool -- and logical, of course!. You just put quotes around the whole bit you're quoting, then finish your sentence with whatever punctuation you need to use. Others may say "that's not the correct way to do it!", but I am a crazy but logical rebel!

[cjsmith]

It makes the written language more correct um, more logically correct er, something for which you could far FAR more easily write an actual parser. It obeys scope.

[rampling]

Other than the egregiously ugly and ridiculous example I wrote in the second sentence of my previous comment above, I feel logical punctuation is usually much easier to follow. And, yeah, it obeys scope too -- a plus! ;)

[queerbychoice]

The example you cited above is a bit more logical than even British punctuation, but British punctuation is much more logical than American punctuation.

I, however, make my living by being one of the few people who can completely sort out the illogic of the American punctuation system. Therefore, I can't really wish it were more logical.

[rampling]

Oh, I know how to follow nearly all the rules to produce officially correct American Written English, but I'm a rebel and won't do it unless they make me! British punctuation is a bit of an improvement, but not good enough for me. I demand full logical precision!

[queerbychoice]

Oh, I knew you knew. But I do wish you could standardize hyphenation for us, because I know of no other area of the English language that's so haphazard. Cooperate/co-operate, coefficient/co-efficient, coinsurance/co-insurance, coworker/co-worker, copilot/co-pilot, e-mail/email, minivan/mini-car, nonnumerical/non-numerical, prework/pre-work, preschool/pre-school, reelect/re-elect, redo/re-do, self evident/self-evident, unnerving/un-nerving . . . I could go on . . .

[asimovberlioz]

While observing the online booboisie these many years, I've often suggested that we simply declare the Internet to be a kind of virtual Dogpatch and suffer people to use phonetic spelling, hillbilly-style, if they are simply too stupid to think of the "correct" spelling. Thus, the pesky words "your" and "you're" would simply be replaced with the all-purpose "yore" that Mammy Yokum would undoubtedly use, were she an AOL member.

(Can you tell that I recently saw the 1959 film of the musical "Li'l Abner"? It was shown at the lasfs Clubhouse last weekend!)

(To younger and/or non-USAian readers: "Li'l Abner" was a hilarious comic strip which was popular in the 1950s and '60s; Dogpatch was the fictional Appalachian village in which it was set; and Mammy Yokum was one of the central characters thereof, known for such statements as, "Good is better'n evil cuz it's nicer!)

[lightning_rose]

I' ; prefer! "anarchy` in m:y puntuat?ion'.

[lightning_rose]

And spelling. :)

[hitchhiker]

Yay for logical punctuation!