One of my pet peeves is the notion that putting punctuation inside quotation marks (which is correct) THEREFORE means you have to do it when so-called quotation marks are used to highlight the usage of a noun as in Jerri's 'thingy' example above. The REASON you put punctuation inside a quotation mark instead of outside is that it is the punctuation OF THE QUOTED THOUGHT. As in, ' "Shut the fuck up!" he explained. '. But when you are offsetting a noun like 'thingie', it is perfectly correct for obvious reasons to use single quotes and put the punctuation outside. Example:

Where did you ever get the idea of calling your dog "Batman"?

in sharp contradisitnction to:

""Where are you off to NOW, Batman?" whined Robin.

I hope never to be contradicted ont his fine diustinction....

A