Zen and the Art of Museum Maintenance
Reader Note: For those of you who have spent enough time on this site to inspect my "Profile", (SisterMode - it seems inappropriate to include a comma within the quote of a proper name) you may have noticed the oddity of my background and entertainment preferences. The chosen description of me there is something of a blogo-historical accident, and does not, in fact, describe me very well whatsoever; at least it only describes me to the extent that it reflects a person with a deranged enough sense of humor to include those fictional biographical entries.Members of the Museum/Library Industry - please do not be offended by my claimed membership in your collective brokership of knowledge and nostalgia. I fully respect the power you hold and the sacrifices you have made for our democracy (and to a perhaps slightly lesser extent, those you have made against our democracy, to the extent you have made such anti-democratic sacrifices). I only chose to include myself in your Industry because I thought it made me sound more interesting and eclectic.
Most important to note is that while Zydeco intrigues me, it is not my favorite type of music.
(of course, this Note is only applicable to those of you who don't already know me, and surely realized immediately that this section was mostly just a big joke (OK, a little joke)).
posted by PositiveMode @ 7:02 PM
6 Comments:
Thank you for the reference, SisterMode. Interestingly, I found this very issue independently raised today by UCLA Professor Eugene Volokh on his blog, The Volokh Conspiracy (now listed on my links page, as I was impressed by his interest in comma-quotation agreement).
Quite a fascinating quirk of history! I guess, as you can no doubt tell, I am in the camp that advocates a move toward a more logical convention. I must admit, though, that I have been somewhat persuaded that in many cases keeping periods and commas inside quotation marks does preserve the flow of a paragraph.
Hi Bill...scary stuff...I work in museums and listen to zydeco music.
no joke.
I enjoy your comments, Circe. Welcome to the site. It can be a nice alternative to the frenetic pace at which the Port functions (although I must say that sometimes there are undercurrents of greater freneticism at PositiveMode).
I can honestly say that even if I expected some visitors who worked in Museums or Libraries (which seemed unlikely, although upon further consideration that was an unwise assumption) and perhaps a few that were into Zydeco (also unexpected, as I rarely encounter people who have even heard of it) I did not expect any blog-visitors who had both in their "bag of tricks," so to speak.
Forgive any perceived affrontery; as I tried to explain in my post, I admire your profession and interests. Please refrain from making any red marks on my forehead, and please do return.
No worries...I'm also into archaeology, cheerleading, swing dancing, & German...
There is no method to my madness...plus there is nothing you can say about any subject that I would find profoundly offensive...I think.
Unlike many users of the Port, I actually HAVE a sense of humour.
If you truly had a sense of humor, you'd be reading NegativeMode . . . where all dreams come true.
Actually I was reading it earlier...very funny...was laughing out loud.
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