brackets and parenthesis

The example given should definitely have been paraphrased, not used as an actual quote.

 

I've have done it like this:
"Coach (John) Taylor gave him the go-ahead to punt [on the final drive]," Williams said.

I don't know why, really, but I thought parens were for add what was, for lack of a better phrase, left out. Brackets I've used to for my own words to clarify something.
Maybe it's the same thing.

 

So does anyone know of newspapers that use parenthesis exclusively.

 

Kind of limiting, to be honest. Going to cost you some quotes, and doesn't make any sense to me.

I don't work at a newspaper anymore, and we do stick with parentheses, and the reason is mildly interesting. Back in the our early days of the 'Net and HTML, our stone knives-and-bearskins production tool read some kinds of code inside brackets as opposed to < and > ... so not only didn't we use them, but if we did, we could severely blow up the system, as in all the way up to take the site down.

So we've always used parentheses inside and outside of quotes, and even though that technological barrier doesn't exist anymore, it's just kind of grandfathered in, and that's the way we still do it. I keep having a mind to change it, and then never bother.

 

"You're a (douche who thinks he is a) cool guy," the player said to his coach.

 

I wish we did.

The more meaningless rules you have, the harder it is to be consistent.

I wish all numbers were numerals, too. Higher than 9. 9 or lower. Everything.

I've never seen a reason why we have to say, "The 9-year-old boy made a hole-in-one with an 8-iron, making him a three-time winner this year."

 

Similar to the markup code used on message boards like this one, no? In my younger and lazier days, I used brackets instead of parentheses in my personal correspondence simply because it saved me a trip to the SHIFT key, but BBS software cured me of that nasty habit.

I'm mildly surprised no one has cited AP style:

brackets [ ] They cannot be transmitted over news wires. Use parentheses or recast the material.

 

I was never taught in J-school or in the real world to ever use brackets.

I can't even recall ever seeing them in a newspaper I read. Then again, maybe I'm not paying enough attention. If I see any in the next month I'll post on this thread again.

 

Does the paper come with a key for the readers?

That said, the fewer brackets or parentheses in quotes the better. I'd say more than half the time something is added to a quote to help explain it, it's completely unnecessary or could have been less awkward paraphrased.

Writers clutch on to crappy quotes like they are gold for some reason.

 

Does the paper come with a key for the readers?
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Right, I ask myself this same question every time I use a bracket or parenthesis. I guess for what it's worth, that's the consistent style we use. I think sometimes it's obvious that we're changing what someone says or adding our own words. Whether or not readers "get it" we just try to be consistent.