|
|
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,146
Carpal Tunnel
|
OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,146 |
I was phoned by a confused programmer on Friday (and one of our more literate ones) who asked me the question "Why do we call them 'single quotes' rather than 'apostrophe'?"
Apart from the fact that it's easier to spell and say, I had no answer for her. She was looking for a cat to kick because she'd just been pinged by a client for using "single quote" when she was getting him to type in a command line at the DOS prompt on his computer, a conversation which was being held over the phone. She found me.
Is this just an IT thing, or is the use of "single quote" becoming more prevalent as a substitute for apostrophe, is it used only to distinguish between the use of <"> and <'> in quotes, and do any of you have any idea when it first came to be used? I couldn't google a damned thing about it!
The idiot also known as Capfka ...
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 3,409
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 3,409 |
To add to your dilemma, may I enquire: What ever happened to the simple "inverted comma"? 
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,146
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,146 |
Please don't - add to the dilemma, I mean. 
The idiot also known as Capfka ...
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,439
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,439 |
Please don't - add to the dilemma Rubbing hands together and chortling with glee :  Then there is the 'okina denoting a glottal stop in the Hawaiian language! wow
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,146
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,146 |
Go chortle quietly in the corner. That one's not even English! 
The idiot also known as Capfka ...
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,439
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,439 |
Since when is this board limited to English ? Hmmmmm? meanwhile, chortling quietly in corner as ordered. wow
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 1,094
old hand
|
|
old hand
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 1,094 |
In an attempt to salvage the original subject of this thread for Kiwi:
I think there is a true difference between a single quote and an apostrophe. The apostrophe is just the name for the mark in I'm. (It's also talking to an inanimate object, but we won't get into that usage.) The single quote is the name for the marks used for a quote within a quote. The two uses have probably just become confused now because they are the same key on the keyboard.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,981
Pooh-Bah
|
|
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,981 |
>In an attempt to salvage ...
How kind!
I'd never call the ' in "I'd" a single quote. I'd call it an apostrophe. If I were to say "hi" then I would use inverted commas, generally double but single if required, never "quotes". I get annoyed when word processing software offers "smart quotes", rather than "smart inverted commas", more creeping globalisation! [/rant]
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542 |
pardon me for asking Yet Another Stoopid Question, Jo, but how did "quotation marks" become "inverted commas"??
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,981
Pooh-Bah
|
|
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,981 |
>pardon me for asking Yet Another Stoopid Question, Jo, but how did "quotation marks" become "inverted commas"??
Ah that would be the rule of sixes. When I was six it was a word that I was taught so therefore it was correct and had existed forever. When you were six you may have been lead to believe something else and therein lies the problem.
The short answer is "search me". I've googled and all the rather eminent sites (newspapers and academia) that use the term are .uk or .au sites, so it must be a regional variation.
You could always seek out:
Burt, Warren. "Drones 1994 #2 - Old Commas Inverted and Revisited", Xenharmonikôn vol. 16, autumn 1995, p. 99 & 103 (score).
|
|
|
|
Forums16
Topics13,913
Posts229,338
Members9,182
| |
Most Online3,341
Dec 9th, 2011
|
|
|
0 members (),
651
guests, and
1
robot. |
|
Key:
Admin,
Global Mod,
Mod
|
|
|
|
