Monday, December 15, 2008

English Epiphany

I realized the other day, there are rules of English that are stupid, and I'm not going to follow them.  In particular, the rules of quotes just don't work.  I could write that Krystle called me a "jerk!"  You have no idea if Krystle was mad and called me a "jerk!" or if I was mad that she called me a "jerk".  From now on, whatever I put in quotes is exactly what is being quoted.  It'll end up in some strange punctuation, such as in the previous example where I would write: Krystle called me a "jerk!"!  But now you know we're both mad.  As Tom Wolfe has shown, creative punctuation makes writing better.

1 comment: