According to The Blue Book of Grammar and Education:

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Rule 1: Periods and commas always go inside quotation marks, even inside single quotes.

Examples:
The sign changed from “Walk,” to “Don’t Walk,” to “Walk” again within 30 seconds.
She said, “Hurry up.”
She said, “He said, ‘Hurry up.'”

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First off, it’s nice to see the Blue Book people finally branch out from the used car market.

Secondly, I have been aware of this rule for a long time, but I just can’t stomach it in certain circumstances.

He said, “Have a nice day.”

Okay, the above sentence makes sense — I don’t mind having the period inside the quote.

The problem, however, was his definition of “nice.”

Agh! I hate it! Why is that period in the quote? The quotation marks are acting on the word! Not the sentence! Punctuation, get out of my quotes!

The problem, however, was his definition of “nice”.

Ah, my rage is receding.

I’m just announcing here, that I am not abiding by this rule foisted upon us by unaccountable grammarians!

Screw you, “jerks”!

Just a short list of things I adore about the Brits and their language ways.

1. color = colour
2. elevator = lift
3. “Bangers and mash”
4. “Sticky wicket”
5. “Cheers” as an informal greeting

And things I don’t like:

1. cookie = biscuit
2. fries = chips
3. “git”
4. “shagging”
5. Any British turn-of-phrase that was popularized by the Austin Powers movies.

What does somebody have to do to be a permanent fixture in one’s culture? And what’s the least amount of effort one can put forth to get this to happen?

Here’s an idea… introduce a new word into your language. “Truthiness,” for example. Right now, the Blogger spell-checker is marking “Truthiness” in this typed post as an error, but, if this word somehow survives its novelty as a satirical concept promoted by a TV comedian, and enters into the holy halls of Regular Usage, perhaps someday the spell-checker will nod, yes, no problem with that word. That seems like a pretty amazing accomplishment to me.

So, now, I present… my word that will spread like a filthy little virus — hell it might even enter the OED with balloons and party horns:

Ringdinging

So far, two definitions.

1st Definition — The act of an actor in a film or TV show, who in a line of dialogue mentions the name of the TV show or film he/she is acting in (e.g. “Forget it, Jake. It’s Chinatown.”).

Character actor Dick Miller is a notorious ringdinger, and has ringdinged in at least two films that I have seen.

He uses the word “gremlins” in the Joe Dante film Gremlins, and says the words “after hours” in Martin Scorsese’s After Hours. Even when he isn’t ringdinging, I am on the edge of my seat expecting it. He played the gun shop owner in The Terminator, and when Arnold asks for a “Phased plasma rifle in the 40 watt range” I always expect Dick Miller’s character to reply, “What are you, some kind of Terminator?”

2nd Definition — The act of promoting one’s self through the introduction of some lazy conceit, or a feeble twist on a preexisting novel concept.

So, by the second definition above, I myself am ringdinging in attempting to introduce the word “ringdinging” into the language.

Wow, I am the coolest loser on the planet!