- From: Simon Montagu <smontagu@smontagu.org>
- Date: Wed, 24 May 2006 21:29:21 +0400
- To: www-style@w3.org
L. David Baron wrote:
> So it seems that which level (single or double) is outermost is a US vs.
> UK difference (as http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quotation_marks says),
> and that I was wrong about the normal convention for third-level quotes
> in English (at least based on these examples).
>
> -David
>
As it happens, the Unicode list has been discussing the same issue, and
a poster quoted The Chicago Manual of Style, 14th edition, section 10.26:
Quoted words, phrases, and sentences run into the text
are enclosed on double quotation marks. ... Single quotation
marks enclose quotations within quotations; double marks,
quotations within these; and so on:
“Don't be absurd!” said Henry. “To say that ‘I mean what I say’
is the same as ‘I say what I mean’ is to be as confused as Alice
at the Mad Hatter's tea party. You remember what the Hatter
said to her: ‘Not the same thing a bit! Why, you might as well
say that “I see what I eat” is the same thing as “I eat what I
see”!’ ”
British practice is often, though not always, the reverse: single
marks are used first, then double, and so on.[1]
Nobody has brought a source for practice in any other language that
deals explicitly with nesting beyond second level.
[1] http://www.unicode.org/mail-arch/unicode-ml/y2006-m05/0144.html (See
http://www.unicode.org/mail-arch/ for guest access procedure)
Received on Wednesday, 24 May 2006 18:23:38 UTC