From owner-cvs-src@FreeBSD.ORG Fri Feb 25 00:03:34 2005 Return-Path: Delivered-To: cvs-src@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id F179516A4CE; Fri, 25 Feb 2005 00:03:33 +0000 (GMT) Received: from smtp2.server.rpi.edu (smtp2.server.rpi.edu [128.113.2.2]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 7430E43D60; Fri, 25 Feb 2005 00:03:33 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from drosih@rpi.edu) Received: from [128.113.24.47] (gilead.netel.rpi.edu [128.113.24.47]) by smtp2.server.rpi.edu (8.13.0/8.13.0) with ESMTP id j1P03Vh5013847; Thu, 24 Feb 2005 19:03:31 -0500 Mime-Version: 1.0 Message-Id: In-Reply-To: <20050224182840.5740b751@mobile.pittgoth.com> References: <200502240006.j1O06MDs099490@repoman.freebsd.org> <20050225042045.L99633@delplex.bde.org> <20050224182840.5740b751@mobile.pittgoth.com> Date: Thu, 24 Feb 2005 19:03:30 -0500 To: Tom Rhodes , Bruce Evans From: Garance A Drosihn Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" ; format="flowed" X-CanItPRO-Stream: default X-RPI-SA-Score: undef - spam-scanning disabled X-Scanned-By: CanIt (www . canit . ca) on 128.113.2.2 cc: cvs-src@FreeBSD.org cc: src-committers@FreeBSD.org cc: cvs-all@FreeBSD.org Subject: Re: cvs commit: src/bin/cp cp.1 X-BeenThere: cvs-src@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: CVS commit messages for the src tree List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Fri, 25 Feb 2005 00:03:34 -0000 At 6:28 PM -0500 2/24/05, Tom Rhodes wrote: >On Fri, 25 Feb 2005 05:37:20 +1100 (EST) >Bruce Evans wrote: >> > > I think you mean ones ending in "/". Ones ending in "/." are > > similarly mishandled, but this is not noted. The strange > > English rule for putting "." in quotes is very confusing here. > > I don't know the exact rule. > >In my case, I was using the period to end the sentence, not to >cover the "." entry in the file system. > >With regards to English, I was always taught that you end a sentence >with punctuation in quotes; however, this rule may be broken when >confusion may occur. This seems to be one of those cases and I >double checked with my friend, Matt, who teaches college >English courses. It wasn't an "english rule", it was a "typesetters rule". And apparently it's more stupidly done in the US than other english- speaking countries. See: http://webster.commnet.edu/grammar/marks/quotation.htm for instance. I hate the rule. I've had more than one argument with documentation staff who moved periods or commas inside of quotes (among other changes), to make it "better english". And at the same time they've taken my carefully-worded instructions and made them *WRONG*. And of course, *they* don't get the phone calls when some user has problems due to typing in the wrong information... The rule hangs on because everyone now thinks "it looks right" to pull the punctuation into the quote. If we just stopped doing that, then it would "look right" to leave the punctuation where it belongs. -- Garance Alistair Drosehn = gad@gilead.netel.rpi.edu Senior Systems Programmer or gad@freebsd.org Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute or drosih@rpi.edu