Q&N: Text Status and Typography Notes

If there’s no such link from a table of quotes, it has not yet been reviewed, and the treatment of paragraphs, quotation marks, ellipses, etc., may be inconsistent.

Typography introduction
Q&N entrance page (super-index)

General practices (formerly notes A, D, P, and V) A group of notes, for different types of source material, have been combined here. These practices are followed: Capitalization matches the source. Paragraph beginnings are generally indicated by indentation (including some cases where the source does not indent, e.g. at beginnings of chapters or sections); or another method, following the source, such as an enlarged initial letter or an item number. Indentation other than at the beginnings of paragraphs (e.g., in verse sections) attempts to imitate the source. Ellipses are the author’s unless surrounded by brackets, like this [...] . Besides indicating my omission of internal portions of a quote, the bracketed ellipses appear when a quote begins or ends in the middle of a sentence, and when a quote from drama (or comics) begins in the the middle of a speech. Quotation marks (double or single) follow source usage. In many cases, left- and right-hand marks are not distinguished: this measure saved a bit of space, but it is also ugly, so this practice is under revision. Dashes generally follow the source’s style, but may be adjusted in size for clarity’s sake. Font enhancements such as italics, bold face, or size changes follow the source unless the entire quote is drawn from enhanced text, in which case it is left in the preferred font for readability. These enhancements often vary from one source edition to another. In drama quotes (and also those drawn from comics, which are presented in the same style), the character speaking is indicated using my own style, not that in the source. Verse is often presented with a different preferred font.

Note S (George Bernard Shaw’s writings) The conventions for drama, described in Note D, are followed, with one addition: In contractions, conventional apostrophes have been added where Shaw tried to abolish them. He was ahead of his own time, and ours; their omission still has a jarring effect on the reader.

Notes T: (some Terry Pratchett novels) The practices of Note A are followed except: The words of Death (a recurring character, who speaks in all capital letters) are in bold face, which seems to come closer to the effect on the printed page. Other enhancements (italics, bold face, size variations) follow the source unless the entire quote is drawn from enhanced text.

Note x1: “God is alive. Magic is afoot.” from Leonard Cohen’s Beautiful Losers Capitalization matches the source. In the book, the passage is one long paragraph; line and stanza breaks are my own additions.

Note x3: (Cat’s Cradle, by Kurt Vonnegut) The conventions in Note A are followed, except for several Bokononist passages, which follow the conventions used for verse (Note V). The text used in Bokononist last rites is modified substantially, as noted.

Note x4: (What Went Wrong in Ohio: The Conyers Report on the 2004 Presidential Election) For ease of reading, I have changed the appearance of various levels of section headings, avoiding bold, italicized, small-caps, and all-caps styles. Otherwise, the conventions in Note A are followed.

Note x5: (some quotes from the Authorized or “King James” Version of the Bible) I have added quotation marks and a paragraph structure. Otherwise, the conventions in Note A are followed.

Note x6: (Galápagos, by Kurt Vonnegut) The conventions in Note A are followed, except that asterisks, used to indicate characters who are about to die, have been omitted as a distraction.