Bellybutton contemplation

A guy I used to work with at the Messenger newspaper in Canandaigua, who now edits a newspaper in Virginia or North Carolina......
.....And I are having a discussion on Facebook about punctuation.
“For cryin’ out loud, Paul.
I happened to run my ‘proofreader’ on a blog I did, and it wanted me to change .” to “.
NEVER IN A MILLION YEARS!
I graduated college doing .” and .’, and just because the youngsters consider what I consider a mistake to have become correct usage, I ain’t changin’.
Your input is requested.”
We both are old-school grammarians.
Paul answered: “Nothing wrong with .” AP-style, in particular, tends to capitulate to common usage whether it's correct or not.”
A guy named Rob Mullen weighed in: “Isn't it correct to use “ when you are emphasizing something said....like, John said “I'm heading to Wegmans, need anything”? and you would typically use ‘ when emphasizing or highlighting an important word....like, John went to Wegmans and discovered he had accidentally parked in the ‘Handicap’ spot. ????? Or....John just ran that ‘Stop’ sign.”
Another named Joel Pinckney also weighed in: “I learned that it should be done “this way.” I ain't changin’ either!!!”
Probably Mullen’s comment was meant as bait, but I responded anyway: “The Keed weighs in (causing fear and loathing)
RE: “ —In the world I grew up in (born in 1944), quote-marks were used to signify a quote — not to emphasize something. For that you can embolden or italicize (assuming you can do that).
“I'm heading to Wegmans, need anything”? seems a viable quotation (gasp). —Although I would put the end-quote AFTER the question-mark, making me an old geezer, I guess.
And perish-the-thought, ‘Handicap’ and ‘stop’ also seem viable quotes. Although I would just call it a stop-sign, no quote-marks.
We keep letting the younger pups change the language, and we get madness. It’s vague enough already.
Weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth!
Pretty soon ya get the tea-baggers harassing the newspaper’s publisher.”
Paul also weighed in: “You're giving me a headache, Rob.” and “End-quote should always be after punctuation.”
The guy at the grooming-shop who daycares my dog, who also used to work with me at the Messenger, commented “Who even cares anyway? Not the readers.”
A guy I graduated college with, who lives in Massachusetts, and majored in English, will also weigh in: “English is a flexible language. Go with the flow. Grammar is for anal people.”
Okay, but the Messenger’s head-honcho used to get angry phonecalls from the so-called “grammar-police” about this kind of stuff.
They accused us of being too liberal; “furtive meetings to advance our liberal agenda.”
That they as CONSERVATIVES could do a better job — that is, liberals were stupid.
When did we ever have time for “furtive meetings?”
So ga-head! The participles dingle-dangle-dingle.

• The “Messenger newspaper” is the Canandaigua Daily-Messenger, from where I retired over ten years ago. Best job I ever had — I worked there almost 10 years (over 11 if you count my time as a post-stroke unpaid intern [I had a stroke October 26, 1993, from which I recovered fairly well]).
• “Canandaigua” (“cannan-DAY-gwuh”) is a small city nearby where I live in Western NY. The city is also within a rural town called “Canandaigua.” The name is Indian, and means “Chosen Spot.” It’s about 14 miles away. I live in the rural town of West Bloomfield, west of Canandaigua.
• “AP-style” is writing usage as delineated by Associated Press. At the Messenger we all had AP style-books, manuals of the usage Associated Press used.
• “Wegmans” is a large supermarket-chain based in Rochester where I often buy groceries. They have a store in Canandaigua. They pretty much own the Rochester market, and are expanding to the east.
• “Tea-baggers” are members of the Tea Party.