We've all seen the difference in American English and British English when it comes to words. Sometimes British folks use different words all together, and sometimes they use different spellings. Let's have a look-see.
Bathroom/Loo
Theater/Theatre
Fall/Autumn
Potato Chips/Crisps
Elevator/Lift
Color/Colour
And the list could go on and on...
But did you know that the British use of commas and periods in conjunction with quotation marks different than ours? If you read a British newspaper or book publishing in Britain, you'll undoubtedly see the difference. And this folks, is why some professionals think that we tend to get our wires crossed when it comes to writing quotation marks. Hmm, I knew there was a reason for this! ;-)
In the US, periods and commas go INSIDE the quotation mark. In Britain, they go OUTSIDE the quotation mark. Like so:
The Sheriff said, "Whoa." (American version)
The Sheriff said, "Whoa". (British Version)
"Whoa," said the Sheriff. (American version)
"Whoa", said the Sheriff. (British Version)
And as far as this Sheriff can tell, question marks and exclamation points remain the same in both cases. I think. ;-)
Now don't you feel better to know that bit of information for the beginning of your week? YES!
~JD
7 comments:
That is just odd.
I feel better for being JD policed! Yay! take care
x
Still laughing!
Okay, now I understand why there are British versions of books. Some of these different words show up in countries with a history of British rule as well. I've read stories from Nigeria and the Caribbean using 'boot' for trunk of a car.
Actually, British books tend to use single quotation marls (or inverted commas, as they're called over here) rather than double.
'It's all so confusing,' she said, shaking her head in chagrin.
:)
Quotation MARKS! Sorry!
nice idea.. thanks for sharing.
Post a Comment