Re: [docbook-apps] Apostrophe in docbook document

[Ron Catterall <ron@catterall.net>]

Could somebody tell me which is the correct symbol to use for apostrophe.

The HTML special characters entity set has apos #x27 where apos 
presumably stands for apostrophe - this is the straight up single quote 
mark which XML defines and uses for special purposes.

The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on-line tells me:
"The omission of one or more letters in a word.
A sign (') used to indicate the omission of one or more letters or 
numerals (as in can't, o'er, 'cello; spirit of '76 (i.e. 1776)), or in 
marking the possessive case (man's, boys')."
So SOED appears to use apos.  Do they know, or just confused?  Or could 
it be a UK/US difference?
(I've always used the keyboard ' for XML use and apos when I want the 
apostrophe in text.)

Wikipedia tells me:
"The apostrophe is different from the closing single quotation mark 
(usually rendered identically but serving a quite different purpose), 
and from the similar-looking prime (which is used to indicate 
measurement in feet or arcminutes, and for various mathematical purposes)."
So Wiki tells me use rsquo  #x2019 (#8217) which looks like an 
apostrophe, and not to use apos or prime (#x2032)
but also:
"The prime symbol should not be confused with the apostrophe, single 
quotation mark, acute accent or grave accent."

Jacques Foucry wrote:
> On 25 janv. 2010, at 17:30, Mathieu Malaterre wrote:
> Hello,
> 
>> #3 is the fastest to type. #2 and #4 are ugly to read when editing the .xml file using text file. How about solution #1
> 
> In my source document I use the single quote (#4). In my custom stylesheet I change them by the curly quote (#1).
> 
> 	<xsl:param name="singlequote">
> 		<xsl:text>'</xsl:text>
> 	</xsl:param>
> 	<xsl:param name="curlyquote">
> 		<xsl:text>’</xsl:text>
> 	</xsl:param>
> 
> 	<xsl:template match="d:para/text() | d:title/text()">
> 		<xsl:value-of select="translate(.,$singlequote,$curlyquote)"/>
> 	</xsl:template>
> 
> I do not change for <computeroutput> or <litteral> tags.
> 
> Jacques
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-- 
Ron Catterall Ph.D. D.Sc.
ron@catterall.net
http://catterall.net

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