Hi, Paul!  Recently you wrote in a message to Alexander Koryagin:   
      
   ak>  (not processed: spam filter heuristic analysis disabled)   
      
   PQ>  Some interesting extra bits here, Alexander.  :)   
      
      
             Indeed.  And once you'd commented on them, I couldn't help running   
   to the dictionary to clarify my understanding of the word "heuristic"...   
   [grin].   
      
      
      
   ak>  A postman (amazed): "Oh, dear me! Is your mother at home?"   
   ak>  The boy (with his eyes goggled, tittering): Try to guess, man!   
      
   PQ>  Oh, yes.  It will be interesting to see what Ardith may say   
   PQ>  about the punctuation.   
      
      
             Okay, I'll bite... [chuckle].   
      
      
    1)  Alexander forgot to use quotation marks to set off the boy's response,   
   but apart from that I see no errors in punctuation.   
      
        Stylistically it could also be argued that quotation marks are   
   unnecessary when dialogue is written as it would be in a play.  In this   
   example, however, I see quite a lot of description preceding the dialogue...   
   and IMHO the quotation marks make the author's intentions more clear.   
      
        I'd suggest he choose one method or the other & stick with it.   
      
      
    2)  He used double quotation marks, as North Americans usually do, where   
   Brits would be more likely to use single quotation marks.   
      
        Years ago I found myself saying "Either way is correct in Canada" so   
   often I asked the resident techie to set up a macro for me.  YMMV, but it   
   seems to me Aussies are in much the same position as Canadians in that   
   although we have our own unique way of doing things we're very much aware that   
   we need to be able to get along with folks in other parts of the world.  In a   
   tagline, Alexander said "Live and let live."  I reckon I'm espousing the same   
   principle when I say that while my own writing indicates a bias in favour of   
   USAian or British usage from time to time I don't expect others to follow suit.   
      
      
     3)  He used a single space after the colon, as he does between sentences.    
   My own preference would be to use double spaces.  But there's a lot of   
   controversy nowadays WRT these matters... and again, either is correct in   
   Canada.   
      
      
      
   PQ>  I have my own ideas.   
      
      
             Fire away!  You can teach us about Aussie English....  :-)   
      
      
      
   PQ>  This was a deep and serious question for me just a   
   PQ>  couple of days ago.  You see, I often see jokes that   
   PQ>  seem to be in need of having their punctuation fixed   
   PQ>  before I post them in a local echo.   
      
      
             I've also been known to edit such things before passing them on.  ;-)   
      
      
      
   PQ>  So I make an attempt and then, sometimes, my fixed   
   PQ>  version looks worse than the original.   
      
      
             Human beings are social creatures.  Your punctuation looks good to me   
   ... but a lot of people regard electronic media as transitory, and forget   
   about the potential for confusion when they're careless about mechanical   
   details like this.  After having seen comma faults, run-on sentences, and   
   dangling modifiers for the ten thousandth time you may begin to doubt   
   yourself.  (Been there, done that, managed to survive teaching junior high   
   school English.)  I found my best defence was to make frequent use of ye olde   
   Gage dictionary & whatnot....  :-))   
      
      
      
   PQ>  After reading some of the links on the search result   
   PQ>  listing I was even more confused.  In the end I found   
   PQ>  one that I was happy with and printed it to a .PDF file   
   PQ>  for later reference (which is something else I do quite   
   PQ>  a lot of).   
      
      
             Wonderful!  Now I'd like to know the source of the latter....  :-)   
      
      
      
      
   --- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+   
    * Origin: Wits' End, Vancouver CANADA (1:153/716)