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Jan 26, 2007

Overheard in the lift

“…so I said to Carl, ‘You should have said to him “if you want to jump, then JUMP and stop wasting our time”‘…”

Consideration, empathy and people skills abound in West London, today.

–

Incidentally, punctuationally speaking, what’s the best alignment of various marks for the above? I think I’ve got it right, but am happy to be corrected….

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Category: Overheard

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5 Responses

  1. David says:
    January 26, 2007 at 6:22 pm

    Hee, hee. I was going to say that perhaps you shouldn’t have the third set of quotes. In retelling the story to their friend, I don’t think the patter suggested to Carl is actually a quote.

    But hey, your punctuation made the whole conversation readable and after all, isn’t that what puctuation is for……(wait for it)…… ? Nothing like an anticipated question mark, eh……?

  2. xl says:
    January 27, 2007 at 5:35 am

    The short answer might be: it depends upon which style guide you use. The meaning is certainly clear. The punctuation could be altered slightly in both sentences:

    “So, I said to Carl, ‘You should have said to him “if you want to jump, then JUMP, and stop wasting our time.”‘”

    Consideration, empathy, and people skills abound in West London today.

    I hope that does not sound pedantic! :)

  3. Gordon says:
    January 28, 2007 at 2:15 pm

    As xl says, if look through various style guides you’ll find an answer that matches your example!

    A lot of people get really bent out of shape over this kind of thing, and whilst good gramur is, like, totally, brill ‘n stuff:- well its not the be all and end all of the world

    right

  4. asta says:
    February 2, 2007 at 12:40 am

    If you’re interested, James Wolcott’s makes a good case for the return of the serial comma here.
    I confess to having abandoned this comma a few years ago, but have been making use of it lately when I think it helps clarify a thought.

  5. asta says:
    February 2, 2007 at 12:43 am

    Ah, nothing like a misplaced apostrophe and extraneous ‘s’ in a comment about punctuation.

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This is a personal site, created and curated continuously since early 2000 by Meg Pickard, a creative geek, passionate photographer, anthropologist and web experience /community /social media specialist, who works for The Guardian & lives in London, UK.
 
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