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submitted 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) by Dagobah@lemmy.world to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

Language is always changing. At one point 'an apron' was 'a napron' while words like 'literally' are no longer literally literal. What are some language battles that have been lost in living memory and what are some others you predict will soon occur?

Edit: Non-english examples very welcome!

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[-] Reverendender@sh.itjust.works 29 points 1 week ago

We were always supposed to put punctuation inside quotation marks; however, now it seems to be the user's choice of inside or outside. And I have to admit that most of the time when I’m using quotes, it seems more logical to me to place the punctuation outside of them.

[-] emergencyfood@sh.itjust.works 5 points 6 days ago

We were always supposed to put punctuation inside quotation marks;

Isn't this a US English thing? In India we were taught to close them like brackets - i.e., the one that opened last closes first. So

'Don't wait. I will come later.'

But

He said 'I will come later'.

[-] southsamurai@sh.itjust.works 4 points 6 days ago

You know, I actually prefer that it be variable, but only when it serves a purpose.

Like, if Im quoting someone "I might want to indicate that they completed a sentence.", but also continue beyond it.

[-] Cethin@lemmy.zip 5 points 1 week ago

Yeah, I still feel like I'm supposed to, but frequently I think it makes more sense to pull it outside if it isn't part of the quote. Putting it in the quotation makes it seem like it's associated with the quotation, when it may not be.

[-] sem@piefed.blahaj.zone 2 points 1 week ago

For me, i make peace with this by thinking, the rules are one way for writing dialog, and perhaps another way when needing to convey the exactness of a quote.

[-] tomenzgg@midwest.social 3 points 6 days ago

YES! That's basically my same reasoning.

this post was submitted on 24 Sep 2026
59 points (100.0% liked)

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