Originally Posted By: DWallach
but (I believe) British standard usage is to close the quotation mark then have a period.


AFAIK, British usage requires the punctuation inside the quotes. At least, that's how I was taught. Almost nobody does it that way, though. In particular I don't do it because it offends my mathematical/computer-programming/OCD-afflicted brain in that it's not nested correctly.
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-- roger