Steve Hayes:

> I had been led to believe that "full stop" was British us-
> age, while "period" was US usage.
>
> The following news item from the Carlisle Journal of 03
> Sep 1814 seems to suggest otherwise:
>
> "On Wednesday last, at Tarnside, near Wigton, a person of
> the name of Gavin HOW, put a period to his existence by
> suspending himself with a rope."

And here a example from Nathaniel Hawthorne:

Look next into the street, where we have an amusing par-
allel to the combat of those fancied demons in the upper
regions. It is a snow-battle of schoolboys. What a pretty
satire on war and military glory might be written in the
form of a child's story by describing the snow-ball
fights of two rival schools, the alternate defeats and
victories of each, and the final triumph of one party, or
perhaps of neither! What pitched battles worthy to be
chanted in Homeric strains! What storming of fortresses
built all of massive snow-blocks! What feats of individu-
al prowess and embodied onsets of martial enthusiasm! And
when some well-contested and decisive victory had put a
period to the war, both armies should unite to build a
lofty monument of snow upon the battlefield and crown it
with the victor's statue hewn of the same frozen marble.

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On 22/09/2021 09:33, Anton Shepelev wrote:
> Steve Hayes:
>
>> I had been led to believe that "full stop" was British us-
>> age, while "period" was US usage.
>>
>> The following news item from the Carlisle Journal of 03
>> Sep 1814 seems to suggest otherwise:
>>
>> "On Wednesday last, at Tarnside, near Wigton, a person of
>> the name of Gavin HOW, put a period to his existence by
>> suspending himself with a rope."

The journalist is clearly an American on secondment.

> And here a example from Nathaniel Hawthorne:

Born and bred in Massachusetts.

--
Richard Heathfield
Email: rjh at cpax dot org dot uk
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