Multicultural Punctuation

 

 

Living where English, many versions of English, are spoken, I know all English is not the same.

It goes beyond windshield/windscreen, hood/bonnet, sneakers/trainers etc. 

It goes to punctuation as well.

In English novels, I see this when it comes to a period/full stop. 'Jane, did you ask Terry, "Terrry, where are you going?" ' Whereas in an American novel it would appear as this: "Jane, did you ask Terry, 'Terrry, where are you going?' " Of course, there would be no space ' " which I put in for clarity.

Then there's the question of Mr./Mr or Mrs./Mrs  and Dr./Dr -- Somewhere when English crossed the Atlantic, a period appeared in these titles. Never mind that in the UK, doctors are often addressed as Mr without a period after the R. 

I was taught that Mr was an abbreviation of Mister, Mrs. was an abbreviation of Mistress and as an abbreviation it needed a period.

Ms is another issue. It is not an abbreviation of anything but was promoted by feminists in the 1970s to erase the difference between a married and unmarried woman. Sometime, and I don't remember when it changed. My paper edition of the Chicago Manual of Style is in France and I'm in Switzerland. The same with the AP Stylebook. I don't want to pay for an on-line subscription. 

I don't want to get into other languages such as the double triangle quote marks laying on their side in French, the upside down question marks in Spanish or the umlaut in German. 

Nor do I want to get into the Oxford comma debate, a discussion my husband (also a writer) and I have frequently. Both of us are entrenched in our opinions. Nor why should the American Z zzz be an English zed?

I worked at one company where the language was English/English except when it was American and sometimes Canadian, spellings and punctuation was included.

I use it as an excuse on why my language, spoken and written, is messed up.