# Please stop using quote marks for emphasis. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 8, 2010, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-stop-using-quote-marks-for-emphasis/524183 "2010-01-08T18:12:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![The\_Evil\_Prince\_Zorte](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@The\_Evil\_Prince\_Zorte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Evil_Prince_Zorte)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2010, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-stop-using-quote-marks-for-emphasis/524183/21 "2010-01-08T21:01:09Z")
What does an emphasis quoter see when they read quotes that mean “we’re just quoting what someone else said, but we don’t really believe it”, or are used to denote a euphemism? Are they oblivious to the connotation? It’s obvious that whoever wrote the sign advertising their vehicle graphics (“We ‘do it’ anywhere!”) is. Does anyone here use quotes for emphasis? Is it news to you that it isn’t commonly understood to mean what you thought it did? How does someone come to view quotes as emphasis and not euphemism? I would think they would need to somehow be exposed to more examples of the former. Or maybe using quotes for emphasis makes you look dumb because it’s clear that every time you saw them used you mistook it for emphasis and totally missed the subtext. ---
**Author:** ![joyfool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@joyfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joyfool)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2010, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-stop-using-quote-marks-for-emphasis/524183/22 "2010-01-08T23:07:23Z")
> [@The\_Evil\_Prince\_Zorte](#): > > My daughter’s preschool newsletter (a hotbed of unnecessary quotes) said that the January bake sale will be hosted by teacher “Rita”. I thought, why does one of their teachers use an alias? This is exactly what my mother does with most names and I’ve told her it comes across like she doesn’t believe I am who I am. 😛 She, on the other hand, says she does it because she likes how it makes words look. So go figure. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2010, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-stop-using-quote-marks-for-emphasis/524183/23 "2010-01-08T23:30:26Z")
> [@The\_Evil\_Prince\_Zorte](#): > > I was wondering how those people get the impression that quotes denote emphasis. But then how do we learn that they are used for allegation and distancing, and which is really correct? There are any number of style guides out there. [Wikipedia references some of them](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quotation_marks#Emphasis_.28incorrect_usage.29) for the claim that using quotes for emphasis is incorrect usage. ---
**Author:** ![horsetech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dec6dc/32.png) [@horsetech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/horsetech)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2010, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-stop-using-quote-marks-for-emphasis/524183/24 "2010-01-08T23:35:47Z")
Is _this_ better? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Evil\_Prince\_Zorte](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@The\_Evil\_Prince\_Zorte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Evil_Prince_Zorte)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2010, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-stop-using-quote-marks-for-emphasis/524183/25 "2010-01-08T23:43:44Z")
> [@faithfool](#): > > This is exactly what my mother does with most names and I’ve told her it comes across like she doesn’t believe I am who I am. 😛 She, on the other hand, says she does it because she likes how it makes words look. So go figure. You could suggest some alternatives like {Faithfool}. That’s certainly prettier than boring old quotes. ---
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2010, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-stop-using-quote-marks-for-emphasis/524183/26 "2010-01-08T23:48:08Z")
Until recently,\* people putting together amateur newsletters and the like did not usually have the option of using different colors or fonts. (A typist could simulate bold print by backspacing and over-typing, but the results weren’t always satisfactory.) OK, so underlining was available, but wasn’t always aesthetically pleasing. (The underscore crossed through the descenders of some letters, as well as reducing the space between lines, and sometimes could come out with gaps or a jagged appearance.) Some sign makers (I’m thinking specifically of the kind of signs that uses individual preprinted letters) still have similar limitations. - “Recently” being a conveniently vague term. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2010, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-stop-using-quote-marks-for-emphasis/524183/27 "2010-01-08T23:58:21Z")
> [@horsetech](#): > > Is _this_ better? If there is no other way to indicate emphasis, such as when you can’t use bold or italics, _this_ is what I use. (This goes back to my time in early 1990s CompuServe chatrooms.) ---
**Author:** ![joyfool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@joyfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joyfool)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2010, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-stop-using-quote-marks-for-emphasis/524183/28 "2010-01-09T00:13:22Z")
> [@The\_Evil\_Prince\_Zorte](#): > > You could suggest some alternatives like {Faithfool}. That’s certainly prettier than boring old quotes. I tried that and asterisks too, but she insists that she likes her way better. Maybe if I told her that the whole of the Dope was laughing behind her back… naw, wouldn’t faze her a bit. Thanks for the thought though. ---
**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:** [January 9, 2010, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-stop-using-quote-marks-for-emphasis/524183/29 "2010-01-09T00:48:42Z")
Reserve a hotel room for Jim Smith and his “wife.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-stop-using-quote-marks-for-emphasis/524183.md?page=1)