[wp-trac] [WordPress Trac] #46921: Improper use of ’ (quotation mark)

[WordPress Trac]

#46921: Improper use of ’ (quotation mark)
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 Reporter:  marcochiesi   |      Owner:  (none)
     Type:  defect (bug)  |     Status:  new
 Priority:  normal        |  Milestone:  Awaiting Review
Component:  Text Changes  |    Version:  trunk
 Severity:  minor         |   Keywords:
  Focuses:                |
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 I am a member of the Italian Polyglots team (and also a developer). While
 looking at strings to be translated for version 5.2 I have noticed a large
 number of strings containing the HTML entity `’`.

 I.e.
  To enhance your site’s security, we recommend you remove any themes
 you’re not using. You should keep your current theme, %1$s, and
 %2$s, its parent theme.

 According to W3C Char ref (https://dev.w3.org/html5/html-author/charref),
 the entity `’` is an equivalent of `’` which is a **right
 single quotation mark**.
 I am not a native English speaker but according to different sources (see
 links below) the single quotation mark is often confused with the
 **apostrophe**, which has its own HTML entity (`'`).
 In most of the core strings (if not all) where the entity `’` is
 present, it appears to be misused, as an apostrophe should have been used
 instead. Quotation marks should only be used for quotations and they
 should always come in pairs.

 By the way, I would suggest using a plain apostrophe (`'`) rather than the
 equivalent HTML entity (`'`). I don't see any advantage in using an
 HTML entity here. If there's any issue related to escaping the `'` it
 should be addressed at code-level and not relying on the strings inserted
 by the translators. From a translator perspective strings without HTML
 entities are much more readable and easier to translate, so I would avoid
 the usage of entities whenever possible.

 So my proposal is to review all the core strings that include occurrences
 of `’` and replace them with a plain apostrophe `'` (excluding
 possible cases where there's a real quotation).

 P.s. Here are a few links on this topic:

 * https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/36046/apostrophe-vs-single-
 quote
 * https://www.ergonis.com/products/tips/punctuation-apostrophes-quotation-
 marks.php
 * https://webdesignledger.com/common-typography-mistakes-apostrophes-
 versus-quotation-marks/

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Ticket URL: <https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/46921>
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