Confusing punctuation rules

Huh? I'm American, and I've always thought that if quotes are used to emphasize a word (you know, like when you're speaking to someone in RL, a word that you might use the stupid air-quotes for, like in "What is 'normal', anyway?", which would make you obnoxious), then the punctuation always goes outside, because the punctuation is part of the sentence, not the word. But if the quotes are surrounding actual speech, then the punctuation goes inside, because they are punctuating the speech.

In your second set of examples, I would go with the first one. It looks better. Whether it is correct, I dunno!

maestrowork said:

For the Brits (or folks like me who were educated under the British system), the punctuation goes outside of quotes, as in:

By that I mean you are "crazy". When I say "crazy", I mean it.

All is good.

But in American English, I've learned that the punctuation goes inside the quotes:

By that I mean you are "crazy." When I say "crazy," I mean it.


That's also good. No problem. But where is the consistency when we come to punctuation such as semicolon, colon, question or exclamation marks?

By that I mean you are "crazy"; do you know the meaning of "crazy"? Here's an example of "crazy": even if you wear a dress, you're still not a "lady"!

They seem to always go outside of the quotes (unless the quoted text actually is itself a question, for example). Shouldn't they also be inside the quotes for consistency?

By that I mean you are "crazy;" do you know the meaning of "crazy?" Here's an example of "crazy:" even if you wear a dress, you're still not a "lady!"

Click to expand...

It's a typesetting tradition (see here).

Edit: Heh, I see Wikipedia has the link, too.

As an American journalist, I was always taught that commas and periods always go within quotation marks, and that colons, semicolons, question marks and exclamation can do either, depending on the context.

"You said, 'Are you crazy?' "
Versus:
"Did you say, 'You're crazy'?"

http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/marks/quotation.htm

According to this, I use logic instead of rules, like a Brit or a Canadian would. hehe.

That's my favorite grammar site, BTW.

deathwizard said:

As an American journalist, I was always taught that commas and periods always go within quotation marks, and that colons, semicolons, question marks and exclamation can do either, depending on the context.

"You said, 'Are you crazy?' "
Versus:
"Did you say, 'You're crazy'?"

Click to expand...

Yep, what deathwizard said.

Small marks--period and comma--always go inside the quotes.
Tall marks--everything else--in or out, depending on which part they pertain to.

The story I've heard is that it originated from the fear that typesetters would overlook periods and commas if they were outside the quotes at the end of a line. I suppose a careless typesetter might have made that mistake occasionally, but the solution seems out of proportion to the problem.