Path Dependence—100 Mental Models #071 👽
Why periods sit inside quotation marks (it’s not because it is good grammar)
Path Dependence: The set of decisions we face today are limited by the decisions we’ve made in the past, even if the past circumstances are no longer relevant.
Example:
The placement of the period inside a quotation in U.S. spelling exists today because of metal type printing presses that were historically used. Not because it makes logical sense.
Pieces of metal used for terminal punctuation, such as the comma and period, were small and delicate pieces of a printing press. Placing the quotation mark on the outside protected the metal used for the period from damage by the printing press. Today we don’t use these printing presses. Yet we still place quotation marks outside of commas and periods.
The past circumstances of the printing press are no longer relevant, yet today billions of people still place the quotation mark outside of the comma and period. Our grammar, and language, is path dependent.
Wisdom:
“History matters.”
