The problem with the American use of the word "Period" is that, in the UK,a "Period" is a woman's monthly menstrual cycle,hence our preference for "Full Stop " ! Also,when I was at school,we didn't have "Speech Marks" or "Quote Marks", we had only "Inverted Commas".
    We were also taught to use the apostrophe in ways often not seen today, for example in 'phone ( telephone), 'plane (aeroplane),'bus (omnibus) and 'drawing room ( withdrawing room).I do it all the time,because I am an AWKWARD CUSS !!(And I can).