I actually find the appearance of the former example less ugly. Probably because I’m not an American? Though I agree with your point.
Alternative plan: the quotation marks go directly above the period, in ALL cases. Anarchist route!
The ambiguity it’d introduce would be pretty minimal. Also, if all our phones suddenly started doing it, I’d give us about 20 years before nobody younger than 15 knows there was ever a rule to begin with.
Only problem is that you’d still need to know the rule for all other end punctuation… hmm…
You know what? English doesn’t make sense anyway, it’s fine.
“Look, we just want to find the guy who did this! Just because it had my name in the profile with my email address and from my neighborhood, doesn’t mean it was me. It could be anyone!”
Yeah, sadly, that is consistent, although repugnant. Way back in 2018 we had some Trumpers show up at our kinky camping event. Oddly enough, they did not generally promote the fact that they held this political position, waiting until they thought they were with sympathetic ears (i.e., other white cis people that they assumed were straight) to whine about how they were being prosecuted for their beliefs at a gathering that promotes inclusivity and acceptance.
Word got around and oddly enough, no one at the event wanted to play with them or really even talk with them much. They were told by staff that they would not be welcomed back (meaning they’re on the banned list; don’t bother sending a membership application, your payment with be returned and you won’t be allowed on the grounds.) This just made them madder and of course they took to the forums to talk about it.
People tried to appeal to reason and get them to understand that many of us attending the event, probably even a majority, were actually endangered by the policies and rhetoric of the politicians the couple were supporting. We gave specific quotes and examples from these politicians, but these were all dismissed (as far as the couple was concerned) by “oh, but that’s all just politics. Can’t we leave that behind for the week?”
Yeah, there’s nothing like being placed in actual physical danger by people who then turn around and say “oh, but that’s really not that important right now, how about showing us a good time?” I personally compare it to slumming. They were quite happy to support policies that would leave many of us homeless or dead, but we should forgive that because they were willing to tolerate us for the sake of a good BJ, I guess.
To be very blunt about it? Someone can be happy to fuck you while completely denying your right to exist as a human being. I actually know that some of these people actively get off on that.
