Files
dotfiles/claude/memory/feedback_fowlers_rules_quotation.md
David F GliddenandClaude Opus 4.8 3f9a89b00c chore(memory): Basic Memory trial begins — sync normalization baseline (283 files)
Basic Memory v0.21.6 first sync over the live memory dir (steward-authorized
live-dir trial, Option A 2026-06-06): adds permalink: to frontmatter, refolds
long YAML description lines, strips final newlines. Bodies untouched —
verified via full diff classification. From this commit forward, any diff in
claude/memory shows only what Basic Memory or the session writes.

Trial design: MemPalace untouched as incumbent; git status check on this dir
at every wrap; end-of-day evaluation (recall quality, sync robustness,
rebuild-from-files, malformed-file behavior).

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-06-06 09:52:17 +02:00

32 lines
2.3 KiB
Markdown

---
name: feedback-fowlers-rules-quotation
description: Steward uses Fowler's rules for quotation — single quotes primary, double
for nested, logical (British) punctuation-quote order. Apply across all writing.
metadata:
node_type: memory
type: feedback
originSessionId: cc62a4ed-b8b9-4b02-9b98-6af3f5830487
permalink: claude-memory/feedback-fowlers-rules-quotation
---
Steward's quotation style is **Fowler's** (the *King's English* / *Modern English Usage* tradition), not American convention.
**Primary quotation:** single quotes `'…'`
**Nested quotation:** double quotes `"…"`
**Punctuation order:** logical / British — only punctuation belonging to the quoted matter goes inside the quotes; punctuation belonging to the framing sentence goes outside.
Apply this to all writing in ARC and elsewhere unless the steward explicitly says otherwise.
**Why:** the steward's **spelling** comes from Canadian education (so words like *organised*, *honour*, *centre* appear; Canadian English mixes British and American). The **punctuation** choice — Fowler's / logical / single-primary — is a deliberate alignment to British convention for European-context reasons (the steward is based in Barcelona and works across the European concert circuit; British typographic punctuation is the European-aligned choice over American). The two are distinct: Canadian spelling does not entail British punctuation; the steward has chosen them separately. **Both apply across the steward's work.**
American "double-quotes primary, periods always inside" is the wrong convention.
**How to apply:**
- When quoting a master verbatim in body prose: `'…'` not `"…"`
- When quoting within a quote: outer single, inner double
- Period inside single quotes ONLY when the period belongs to the quoted sentence (i.e., the quote ends a complete sentence). Period outside when the period belongs to the larger framing sentence and the quoted material is a fragment or phrase.
- In markdown, use straight `'…'` — pandoc smart-punctuation converts to curly `'…'` automatically.
**Surfaced from:** 2026-05-19, during /aldine-xxi/ page rewrite. I had inadvertently used American convention (doubles primary, period inside regardless); steward corrected with "single quotes no? Fowler's rules."
Related: [[user-arc-british-english]] (the steward writes British English by default).