# I pit "people" who "misuse" "quotation marks". **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 23, 2006, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-who-misuse-quotation-marks/365664 "2006-07-23T02:49:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2006, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-who-misuse-quotation-marks/365664/21 "2006-07-23T15:21:28Z")
[QUOTE=AtomicDog] “This” is why the comic strip “ **Curtis** ” drives me “batshit crazy”. [/QUOTE] Very curious. I cannot find a copy of a [Curtis](http://tabmok99.mortalkombatonline.com/cut90125.gif) comic strip that uses quotation marks. I thought that quotation marks were used to differentiate between narrative voice and first person spoken word. Since word balloons or word clusters with a diagonal line “aiming” the words towards their speaker exist in most if not all comic strip frames, wouldn’t the use of quotation marks be completely redundant redundant? ---
**Author:** ![Taber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ac91a4/32.png) [@Taber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taber)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2006, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-who-misuse-quotation-marks/365664/22 "2006-07-23T19:41:32Z")
The second Curtis down is a pretty poor use of quotation marks [here](http://joshreads.com/?cat=17&paged=2) ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2006, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-who-misuse-quotation-marks/365664/23 "2006-07-23T20:02:23Z")
The classic put down for the use of quotes for “emphasis” is this sentence. The hotel reservations are in the name of John Smight and “wife.” ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2006, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-who-misuse-quotation-marks/365664/24 "2006-07-23T21:39:11Z")
This drives me almost as crazy as the apostrophes in plurals idiocy. Don’t use quotes unless you’re actually quoting someone or being sarcastic. There’s no other use for them! At a gas station I go to, they’ve got a sign on the pumps advertising “fresh made” breakfast sandwiches. I’m so tempted to point out that those quotes make them look sarcastic about the food’s freshness… ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2006, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-who-misuse-quotation-marks/365664/25 "2006-07-23T22:02:31Z")
Whenever I see grammar mistake’s, I literally boil with rage 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Opus1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/858c86/32.png) [@Opus1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Opus1)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2006, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-who-misuse-quotation-marks/365664/26 "2006-07-23T22:08:47Z")
[QUOTE=Tapioca Dextrin] Whenever I see grammar mistake’s, I literally boil with rage 😛 [/QUOTE] In that case, [this](http://www.slate.com/id/2129105/) article will literally make steam come out of your ears. ---
**Author:** ![Taber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ac91a4/32.png) [@Taber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taber)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2006, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-who-misuse-quotation-marks/365664/27 "2006-07-23T23:19:25Z")
I saw a particularily horrible example at Costco today. There was a sign advertising a free tote bag if you signed up for a credit card: > [@](#): > > sign up for a “free” American express card and receive a “tote bag” absolutely free ok, the one around free makes sense, but you really don’t expect credit compainies to be that honest ---
**Author:** ![easy\_e](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/eb8c5e/32.png) [@easy\_e](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/easy_e)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2006, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-who-misuse-quotation-marks/365664/28 "2006-07-24T00:44:50Z")
I was on the Chicago El yesterday and saw I sign like this: > [@](#): > > “DO NOT DRILL HERE” > > ELECTRICAL WIRES INSIDE [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-who-misuse-quotation-marks/365664.md?page=1)