Why are all the quotes in LOTR single quotes? I’ve long wondered if this style implies that, since JRRT was the “translator” of the Red Book, then the entire set of books is in implied double quotes, so any quote within the text is therefore an inner or embedded quote and must use the alternate quote style, a single quote.
Or maybe its just a style thing with JRRT. Anybody know?
It’s UK usage:
Professor Tolkien was English (well, with a slice of South African), and on his side of the Pond, they used single quotes where we would use double quotes, and vice versa. You’ll also note that terminal periods & commas often appear outside the quotation marks rather than generally inside.
The Wiki article says that both styles are used in the UK, not uniformly single quotes. I can’t recall any other book I’ve read that had single quote style, but having said that I’m sure they’re around.
Shame; it would be cool if it the quote style was recursive, because the whole thing is a quote.