Richmond Mathewson wrote:
JLG wrote:
"I'm not sure what "identifying" means in this case, nor what identifies
one method as British and the other as American. All the American books
I've seen have indented paragraphs with no space between."
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RANT WARNING
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That's odd; when I was at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale
I was told by several professors (I use the small 'p' deliberately) that
Indented paragraphs were 'British' and unacceptable. I was also asked by
one "professor" (of Old English, no less) why I couldn't spell English
correctly! I remember on that day I hopped in the car and went out and
sat...[snip).
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This one just pushed my buttons....
Having been involved in "American" book publishing, editing and magazine
printing since 1972... = 36 years (wherein our editor's always, with
glee, change "colour" to "color") I can't help but cringe and weigh in
here: your Profs at USI Carbondale were lost in Ivory Tower Arrogant
Intellectual Polemic Madness, a disease that runs rampant,
unfortunately...to set up such a contrived polarity.
Not that I'm against educators in higher education, but over the years
one just gets sick of these kinds of assertions as they so often pollute
discourse that should otherwise be grounded in empirical observation and
objectivity, by the very ones whose careers are supposed to be based on
their empicism and objectivity. Instead we just get minds filled with
books that were regurgitated content of other books, that were
regurgitated contents of other books, that were regurgitated content of
other books... (don't get me going...)
Whether you use indented paragraphs, block (flush left, one blank line)
paragraphs or "run in- in-line" paragraphs broken with just an old para
sign... is a typographic design decision and has nothing to do with
national literary conventions. "Indented paragraphs were 'British' and
unacceptable." is such a classic statement of the ignorance of many
academics about the real world. Just look at the "American" books and
zines in any Barnes and Noble store for verification.
It would be just "wrong" for RR to set up any kind of conventions based
on such vacuous criteria.
Sivakatirswami
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