On 6/20/06, Steve Summit scs@eskimo.com wrote:
I've managed to avoid any insane mutterings about "smart quotes", too.)
Why the reticence? I want to hear them!
Not that I don't have my own: if you think smart quotes make life complicated in English, try writing documents that consist of both French and English. Now, write a document that is about translation between the two: you will want French text that has English text embedded in French smart-quotes (« bad English text »). Sooner or later Word works out that the quoted text is in English, and switches back to English smart-quotes when you close it (« this English text... was too long"). Lovely.
Steve