song    962745 Mon, 19 Jul 04 10:00 AM "At a guess I would say it means "gossip" or ... "skinder" (pronounced "skinner"), meaning to slander someone, or spread rumours" "about" "something. It has migrated into South African English in that ... page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org fullstop" "uk" Steve, you got me onto something with the notion of Afrikaans. What about this? http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Afrikaans-language Sufficiently clouds the issue of origin. I got to thinking after I posted the other link mentioning the military connection, and both my Poppa and ex were in the military. My father served in Northern Africa in WWII. The ex in Nam. And in answer to Chris's other question of whether or not it should be set off with apostrophes, I would say no. song Apostrophes, Punctuation

	Maria Conlon    962993 Mon, 19 Jul 04 03:14 PM "Since "inverted" is a quasi-medical term for "homosexual," are "inverted commas" queer?" ""Inverted commas" is the normal BrE term." Yes, and "quotation marks" is the normal AmE term. It's another one of those differences we (sort of) laugh at and (sort of) "have words" about. Outright war is not anticipated at this point, but one never knows. Now, my question: Is the term "inverted commas" the formal, proper name for '...' and "..."? That is, is there another term (such as "quotation marks") one would find in a British textbook? (As far as I know, the term "inverted comma" does not appear in American textbooks, but ICBW.) Maria Conlon A very great part of the mischiefs that vex this world arises from words. (Edmund Burke) Maria Conlon

	Maria Conlon    962994 Mon, 19 Jul 04 03:14 PM "Since "inverted" is a quasi-medical term for "homosexual," are "inverted commas" queer?" ""Inverted commas" is the normal BrE term." Yes, and "quotation marks" is the normal AmE term. It's another one of those differences we (sort of) laugh at and (sort of) "have words" about. Outright war is not anticipated at this point, but one never knows. Now, my question: Is the term "inverted commas" the formal, proper name for '...' and "..."? That is, is there another term (such as "quotation marks") one would find in a British textbook? (As far as I know, the term "inverted comma" does not appear in American textbooks, but ICBW.) Maria Conlon A very great part of the mischiefs that vex this world arises from words. (Edmund Burke) Maria Conlon Quotation Marks, United States, American, Punctuation

	Frances Kemmish    962995 Mon, 19 Jul 04 03:24 PM ""Inverted commas" is the normal BrE term." "Yes, and "quotation marks" is the normal AmE term. It's another one of those differences we (sort of) laugh at ... a British textbook? (As far as I know, the term "inverted comma" does not appear in American textbooks, but ICBW.)" I don't recall what was in our schoolbooks, but "inverted commas" is the term that I remember being used in the classroom, when I was a child. My Chambers (1973) dictionary gives, for "inverted commas": "marks of quotation ('...', "...")." For "quotation-mark" it gives: "one of the marks ( print. quotes) used to note the beginning and end of a quotation." Hope this helps. Fran Frances Kemmish Quotation Marks, United States, American, Punctuation, Classes

	Alan Crozier    963062 Mon, 19 Jul 04 03:32 PM "Now, my question: Is the term "inverted commas" the formal, proper name for '...' and "..."? That is, is there ... a British textbook? (As far as I know, the term "inverted comma" does not appear in American textbooks, but ICBW.)" Hart's Rules for Compositors and Readers at the Oxford University Press and the Cambridge Handbook Copy-editing both call them quotation marks. Alan Crozier Lund Sweden Alan Crozier

	Alan Crozier    963071 Mon, 19 Jul 04 03:32 PM "Now, my question: Is the term "inverted commas" the formal, proper name for '...' and "..."? That is, is there ... a British textbook? (As far as I know, the term "inverted comma" does not appear in American textbooks, but ICBW.)" Hart's Rules for Compositors and Readers at the Oxford University Press and the Cambridge Handbook Copy-editing both call them quotation marks. Alan Crozier Lund Sweden Alan Crozier Universities, Quotation Marks, United States, American, Punctuation, Students, Schools

	dcw    963078 Mon, 19 Jul 04 03:39 PM "Now, my question: Is the term "inverted commas" the formal, proper name for '...' and "..."? That is, is there ... a British textbook? (As far as I know, the term "inverted comma" does not appear in American textbooks, but ICBW.)" Fowler/Gowers calls them "inverted commas", but Hart's Rules calls them "quotation marks". Both terms are in common use. David dcw Quotation Marks, United States, American, Punctuation

	Frances Kemmish    963077 Mon, 19 Jul 04 03:41 PM "Now, my question: Is the term "inverted commas" the formal, ... "inverted comma" does not appear in American textbooks, but ICBW.)" "Hart's Rules for Compositors and Readers at the Oxford University Press and the Cambridge Handbook Copy-editing both call them quotation marks." It seems to me, as I read my email, and newsgroup postings, that inverted commas are not the only quotation marks. Fran Frances Kemmish Universities, Commas, Quotation Marks, United States, American, Punctuation, Students, Schools

	Mike Mooney    963083 Mon, 19 Jul 04 03:59 PM ""Inverted commas" is the normal BrE term." "Yes, and "quotation marks" is the normal AmE term. It's another one of those differences we (sort of) laugh at and (sort of) "have words" about. Outright war is not anticipated at this point, but one never knows." ...and one of the few cases where I prefer the AmE term to the BrE one - "inverted commas" is plain inaccurate, due to the relative "vertical positions" of commas and quotation marks. If you invert a comma, it may be uspside down, but it will still be at the *bottom* of the line. Also, it doesn't cater for the "double quotes" - what would they be? Inverted double commas? Silly. Mike M Mike Mooney Commas, Quotation Marks, Punctuation