# Do other "languages" use "scare quotes"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 18, 2013, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-other-languages-use-scare-quotes/650653 "2013-02-18T01:52:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2013, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-other-languages-use-scare-quotes/650653/21 "2013-02-19T04:56:48Z")
To be fair, I don’t ever remember being taught the term “scare quotes” or even getting any formal education on their use, using quotes around a word to imply a different meaning. I think it’s one of those things I learned through use and example and never learned in school. So it wouldn’t surprise me if the official term for them in other languages aren’t very well known or ever really used either. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2013, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-other-languages-use-scare-quotes/650653/22 "2013-02-19T06:42:24Z")
In Spanish dialogue isn’t usually written in quotes, we use dashes\*. The use of quote marks as a marker of “there is something strange about this word” is explained and seen many times, what most years don’t do is go into a specific study of “the many reasons why you might mark a word using quote marks”. The other main use of quote marks is for non-dialogue quotes, and those are rarer than rephrasing: the minister said that the accusations were under investigation \<— most common vs the minister said, and I quote, “the accusations are under investigation” \<— this, and exactly like this, could be heard from a reporter vs the minister said: “the accusations are under investigation” \<— rare - Quote marks were more common in older texts (XVIII, XIX centuries) than they are now, but even then, I’ve seen more old books with dashes than quotes. ---
**Author:** ![Shakester](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shakester/32/437_2.png) [@Shakester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shakester)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2013, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-other-languages-use-scare-quotes/650653/23 "2013-02-19T06:53:05Z")
I think some people are confusing “scare quotes”, which have a specific meaning, and regular quotation marks which simply signify that you’re quoting someone. ---
**Author:** ![Noone\_Special](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/noone_special/32/2863_2.png) [@Noone\_Special](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noone_Special)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2013, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-other-languages-use-scare-quotes/650653/24 "2013-02-19T07:29:39Z")
Hebrew uses “Scare Quotes” in almost exactly the same way that English does (including “Air quoting” the relevant word in speech). And they’re usually called “_Merkha’ot_” (not used for anything else in Modern Hebrew – “End markers” I guess?) instead of “_Gersha’im_” (_lit._ “two tags” - a single quote, ', is "_geresh"_) which is the word generally used for regular quotes. ---
**Author:** ![Bob\_X](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4491bb/32.png) [@Bob\_X](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bob_X)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2013, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-other-languages-use-scare-quotes/650653/25 "2013-02-19T21:41:14Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > In Spanish dialogue isn’t usually written in quotes, we use dashes\*. The use of quote marks as a marker of “there is something strange about this word” is explained and seen many times, what most years don’t do is go into a specific study of “the many reasons why you might mark a word using quote marks”. The other main use of quote marks is for non-dialogue quotes, and those are rarer than rephrasing: > > the minister said that the accusations were under investigation \<— most common > vs > the minister said, and I quote, “the accusations are under investigation” \<— this, and exactly like this, could be heard from a reporter > vs > the minister said: “the accusations are under investigation” \<— rare > > - Quote marks were more common in older texts (XVIII, XIX centuries) than they are now, but even then, I’ve seen more old books with dashes than quotes. Yeah but what we’re really talking about is things like: the “minister” said the accusations are under investigation (you doubt the legitimacy of him holding office) the minister said the “accusations” are under investigation (you think the accusations are more like baseless rumors) the minister said the accusations are under “investigation” (yeah, right, they’ll look into it real carefully and say there’s nothing to it) ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2013, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-other-languages-use-scare-quotes/650653/26 "2013-02-20T04:15:08Z")
A bit off-topic: This use of quotation marks is so pervasive (and has been for so long) that I vividly recall my second-grade teacher asking the class what quotation marks were used for. I raised my hand and then tried to explain the concept which decades later I learned could be described by the term “scare quotes.” As a seven-year-old, I couldn’t express the concept. I fumbled for words, even though I knew how they were used, from things I’d read…basically, when the writer wanted to express that he was writing a word, but didn’t really think it was the right, or most honest, word to use. Something like that! Anyway, the teacher interrupted my fumblings to say, “Well…actually, we use these marks when we’re writing what someone said… In other words, when we are quoting them.” I though to myself, “Hmmm…that might be an interesting secondary use of those marks, but I know they’re more often used for the vague purpose I’m having trouble putting into words.” This was in 1977! ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2013, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-other-languages-use-scare-quotes/650653/27 "2013-02-20T16:07:58Z")
> [@drewtwo99](#): > > That same exact usage is how scare quotes got started in English, if the wikipedia article is to be believed. People would put quotes around a word they were literally quoting from someone else when they disagreed with their usage of the word and wanted to subtly imply it wasn’t really the right word. I like your example of comisiones. It’s pretty much exactly like that in certain English uses… A particularly invidious (if that’s the right word) is when newspaper reporters, in a non-editorial column, insert their own little editorial comment, under cover of simply doing their job by notating that the spoken “speech” or “thinking” the person is verbatim. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2013, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-other-languages-use-scare-quotes/650653/28 "2013-02-20T18:37:51Z")
> [@Bob\_X](#): > > Yeah but what we’re really talking about is things like: > the “minister” said the accusations are under investigation (you doubt the legitimacy of him holding office) > the minister said the “accusations” are under investigation (you think the accusations are more like baseless rumors) > the minister said the accusations are under “investigation” (yeah, right, they’ll look into it real carefully and say there’s nothing to it) And I did talk about that in a previous post. The post you quoted was re. “talking in class about quote marks and their usages”, in response to a remark from the OP. ---
**Author:** ![funnyman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e8c25b/32.png) [@funnyman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/funnyman)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2013, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-other-languages-use-scare-quotes/650653/29 "2013-02-22T02:20:43Z")
In China they use [[double brackets]] for ‘scare quotes’. They do not have a term for scare quotes per se in either Chinese or Japan, so newspapers in Japan, China and Taiwan never use the term, but in China and perhaps also in Taiwan, writers will use double brackets as in [[scare quotes]] to signal to the reader that they are scare quoting the term. The Chinese Communist Government in Beijing and its propaganda arm often uses the double brackets code as a way of belitting the regime’s opponents, such as the Dalai Llama or Taiwan’s president or parliament. in Chinese CHina will call Taiwan’s democrat Congress as [[Taiwan’s legisture]] to signal that China does not believe Taiwan is an independent nation, which of coure it ‘‘is’’. Scare quotes intended.🙂 ---
**Author:** ![SirGalahad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/71c47a/32.png) [@SirGalahad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SirGalahad)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2013, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-other-languages-use-scare-quotes/650653/30 "2013-02-22T03:40:12Z")
Do they use \*Italics \*in Italy? ---
**Author:** ![BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bcef8e/32.png) [@BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2013, 8:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-other-languages-use-scare-quotes/650653/31 "2013-02-22T08:38:19Z")
I found a [discussion about scare quotes](http://www.reddit.com/r/LearnJapanese/comments/1387ma/does_japanese_use_scare_quotes/) in Japanese on reddit. ---
**Author:** ![funnyman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e8c25b/32.png) [@funnyman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/funnyman)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2013, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-other-languages-use-scare-quotes/650653/32 "2013-02-23T04:00:38Z")
The earliest online reference for the use of the term “scare quotes” was in a 1946 book about California, by U.S. writer Carey McWilliams. Reference says: [They have been in use in American letters since 1946, when the term – with a hyphen then, “scare-quotes” – made it into a nonfiction book about California by Carey McWilliams. Newsweek used it for the first time in print in 1993 in an article about artist Roy Lichenstein. The Oxford English Dictionary gives a reference to some professor in Britain using the term in 1956 in an academic paper.] ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2013, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-other-languages-use-scare-quotes/650653/33 "2013-02-23T04:46:27Z")
> [@BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed](#): > > I found a [discussion about scare quotes](http://www.reddit.com/r/LearnJapanese/comments/1387ma/does_japanese_use_scare_quotes/) in Japanese on reddit. I come into the thread to say what’s in this discussion. When I’ve proof read my wife’s papers which have been translated from Japanese into English, I need to get rid of the scare quotes for the reasons given in that discussion. ---
**Author:** ![funnyman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e8c25b/32.png) [@funnyman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/funnyman)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2013, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-other-languages-use-scare-quotes/650653/34 "2013-02-23T05:56:31Z")
> [@JpnDude](#): > > When foreign-language films have Japanese subtitles, small dots are often placed above the Japanese characters of the nuanced phrase. I’ve also seen it in local manga comics. For example: > > That ball player has a really big “bat”! > 　　　　　　　　　　　　. .　　　 > あの選手は大きなバットあるよ！ A Japanese woman, aged 45, writes to me from Japan today re all this: \*Hello Funnyman, Yes, it’s true. We Japanese often use such dots to signify scare quotes! Especially for Japanese subtitles in movies! We used to use these dots more frequently, before, when we were writing letters by hand. Today people use email more often rather than handwritten letters so it is changing and it is possible that young generations do not know about the use of - Mitsuko in Tokyo\* ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2013, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-other-languages-use-scare-quotes/650653/35 "2013-02-23T06:00:53Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > In Spanish dialogue isn’t usually written in quotes, we use dashes\*. … > > - Quote marks were more common in older texts (XVIII, XIX centuries) than they are now, but even then, I’ve seen more old books with dashes than quotes. I’ve read that _Ulysses_, published 1922, was the first book in English to use dashes rather than quotes for dialogue. Never occurred to me to check it. Will look into it, but right now I can’t think how. ---
**Author:** ![funnyman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e8c25b/32.png) [@funnyman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/funnyman)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2013, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-other-languages-use-scare-quotes/650653/36 "2013-02-24T05:32:09Z")
USA expat in Japan over 30 years tells me re the DOTS used in movie subitles and magna in Japan “They take the place of italics in English.” and PS to LEO BLOOM, with a name like THAT, Leopold Bloom and MOLLY Bloom. no wonder you are keyed in to Ulysses!🙂 ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2013, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-other-languages-use-scare-quotes/650653/37 "2013-02-24T05:52:48Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > I’ve read that _Ulysses_, published 1922, was the first book in English to use dashes rather than quotes for dialogue. > > Never occurred to me to check it. Will look into it, but right now I can’t think how. Curious formatting, that. I just found it gathering dust in my iBooks collection. It seems like a line of dialog begins with an em–dash, but there is no closing to the quoted part, it goes right into “, he loudly exclaimed.” or somesuch. Joyce was such a free-spirit (should I have scare-quoted that?) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-other-languages-use-scare-quotes/650653.md?page=1)