Hammering on about Paragraphs

[Sivakatirswami]

Richmond Mathewson wrote:
> JLG wrote:
>
> "I'm not sure what "identifying" means in this case, nor what identifies 
> one method as British and the other as American. All the American books 
> I've seen have indented paragraphs with no space between."
>
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> RANT WARNING
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>
> That's odd;  when I was at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale
> I was told by several professors (I use the small 'p' deliberately) that
> Indented paragraphs were 'British' and unacceptable. I was also asked by 
> one "professor" (of Old English, no less) why I couldn't spell English
> correctly! I remember on that day I hopped in the car and went out and sat...[snip).
>
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> RANT ENDING
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>
>   

This one just pushed my buttons....

Having been involved in "American" book publishing, editing and magazine 
printing since 1972... = 36 years (wherein our editor's always, with 
glee, change "colour" to "color")  I can't help but cringe and weigh in 
here: your Profs at USI Carbondale were lost in Ivory Tower Arrogant 
Intellectual Polemic Madness, a disease that runs rampant, 
unfortunately...to set up such a contrived polarity.

Not that I'm against educators in higher education, but over the years 
one just gets sick of these kinds of assertions as they so often pollute 
discourse that should otherwise be grounded in empirical observation and 
objectivity, by the very ones whose careers are supposed to be based on 
their empicism and objectivity. Instead we just get minds filled with 
books that were regurgitated content of other books, that were 
regurgitated contents of other books, that were regurgitated content of 
other books... (don't get me going...)

Whether you use indented paragraphs, block (flush left, one blank line) 
paragraphs or "run in- in-line" paragraphs broken with just an old para 
sign... is a typographic design decision and has nothing to do with 
national literary conventions. "Indented paragraphs were 'British' and 
unacceptable." is such a classic statement of the ignorance of many 
academics about the real world. Just look at the "American" books and 
zines in any Barnes and Noble store for verification.

It would be just "wrong" for RR to set up any kind of conventions based 
on such vacuous criteria.

Sivakatirswami