foot and inch marksUse straight quotes, not curlyFoot and inch marks—also known as minute and second marks or prime and double prime marks, depending on what they’re labeling—are not curly. Use straight quotes for these marks.
| | Windows | Mac OS | HTML |
|---|
| ' | foot mark | ' | ' | ' |
| " | inch mark | " | " | " |
“But back in straight and curly quotes, you told me to turn on smart quotes. So now, when I try to type foot and inch marks, they come out curly, not straight.” A fair point.
How to override smart quotes
WordType the foot or inch mark, which will come out curly, and then press the key command for Undo. The curly mark will become straight.
WordPerfectNo special action necessary. After numbers, WordPerfect overrides smart quotes and inserts straight quotes.
Typography purists would point out that proper foot and inch marks have a slight northeast-to-southwest slope to them.
True, but those characters aren’t available in many fonts. So straight quotes are the most reliable tools for the job.
| –118° 19’ 36.9” | wrong |
| –118° 19' 36.9" | close enough |
You can italicize the straight quotes if you want an even better approximation of sloped foot and inch marks.
| –118° 19' 36.9" | bonus points |
Tread carefully if foot and inch marks appear within quoted material.
| “She’s 6’ 10”.” | wrong |
| "She's 6’ 10”." | hopeless |
| “She’s 6' 10".” | right |