Grammar, and a couple of other bits

[Catlady (Rita Prince Winston)]

Carol wrote in <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPFGU-OTChatter/message/38988>:

<< wondering why Goddlefrood and others would classify his sentence as a run-on when nothing is run together >>

I expect they're thinking of the phrase 'run on at the mouth', which means not pausing to allow other people a turn to speak.

Carol in <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPFGU-OTChatter/message/38989> quoted Potioncat from Main List about Dog Latin:

<< (barco, barcas barcat..) >> 

Isn't that something about Hannibal and Hamilcar?

Carol wrote in <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPFGU-OTChatter/message/39001>:

<< in American English (as opposed to British English) the quotation marks follow the period even if you're just quoting a word or phrase >>

If I had the energy, I would do my usual rant against putting extraneous punctuation inside the quotation marks. If the punctuation is not part of the matter being quoted, then putting it inside the quotation marks is a LIE, a false attribution to the person being quoted, and just plain inaccurate. I believe that truth and accuracy are far more important than following stupid rules.

Aleta wrote in <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPFGU-OTChatter/message/39021>:

<< I have always disliked this rule (and willingly disobey it) because it is illogical. It seems to me that if the quotation is not the entire sentence, then the period - which is intended to signal the end of the sentence - should go outside the quotation marks. >>

Hurray! You are so right!

<< Why do we have a different (silly, I think) rule for that
anyway? Do you know the history there? >>

I don't know the truth, but I have read that this rule came from movable type. It claimed that typesetters didn't like to make separate pieces of type for little dot and comma, so they cast type with dot-quote and comma-quote on one piece, and didn't want to have to also cast quote-dot and quote-comma.

Geoff wrote in <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPFGU-OTChatter/message/39026>:

<< "All Creatures Great and Small", based on a series of books about vets** working in the North of England from the 1930s to the 1950s. (snip) **veterinary surgeons of course.... >>

An excuse to repeat that when I was a young child, I got the words 'veteran' and 'veterinarian' confused and thought that holiday in November was Veterinarian's Day. I also confused the words 'typhoon' and 'tycoon'...

I read All Creatures Great and Small when I was in high school, and it first came out in US paperback. Thinking back on it, I don't recall having noticed any Great Depression going on.