Comment 8 for bug 191227

I do not think this bug is invalid. The auto-correct function for custom quotes chooses which way they should curve based on their context. In the case of apostrophes in special contractions where the first part is implicit, such as decade abbreviations like "the '80s," the function chooses the wrong direction. So the user has to go back and manually fix every one, or not use automatic typographic quotes at all (which in most cases is even worse).

In the English language, the smart quotes feature should be able to check for a single quote before a two digit number, optionally followed by an s, that is not complemented by a matching closing single quote (preceded by a character and followed by a space) in the paragraph. This single quote mark should point left, away from the number, toward the implied century. The same rule should look for matches to a list of archaic contractions of "it" and a verb and behave similarly, such as 'twas, 'twere, 'twill, 'tis, 'twasn't, 'tain't, etc. I don't know if similar rules apply in other languages.