# Please stop using quotes for "emphasis" **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 13, 2008, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-stop-using-quotes-for-emphasis/441201 "2008-03-13T01:24:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![SmartAleq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smartaleq/32/163_2.png) [@SmartAleq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAleq)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2008, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-stop-using-quotes-for-emphasis/441201/41 "2008-03-13T14:36:27Z")
[QUOTE=Cosmic Relief] As mentioned below, bolding asterices have _long_ been an informal but consistently observed internet convention for indicating emphasis. I’m fine with that. I’d also be fine with _this_ or +this+ because neither has any grammatical punctuation purpose. Quotation marks do have a specific purpose and they shouldn’t be used for anything else, because this increases ambiguity of the meaning. [/QUOTE] I was really amused to note that Outlook will bold anything prefaced and terminated with asterisks–it’s about the only indication I’ve ever seen that M$ programmers are actually aware of common computer usage and terms. Sure as shit can’t tell from their operating systems! Of course, it makes it difficult to use _snerk_ in email… ---
**Author:** ![Digital\_Stimulus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Digital\_Stimulus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Digital_Stimulus)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2008, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-stop-using-quotes-for-emphasis/441201/42 "2008-03-13T14:44:47Z")
[QUOTE=Mijin] > [@AudreyK](#): > > I then saw a van for a plumbing company that had some generic and forgettable slogan. Something like “Quality people, quality products.” I dunno, that parses fine for me. It’s saying they’re known for providing quality products. [/quote] There is a reason to use quotes that I haven’t seen (explicitly) mentioned yet: when one is referring to a term or phrase as the object of discussion. I’m well aware of this because it was the foundation of my advisor’s PhD thesis in logic and he often chastised me for making such errors in my writing – the issue really crops up often in computer science. I took the above “_Quality people, quality products._” as a catchphrase that one is meant to associate with the company. Sort of like Campbell’s slogan is (used to be) “Mmm, mmm, good!”. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2008, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-stop-using-quotes-for-emphasis/441201/43 "2008-03-13T15:03:26Z")
[QUOTE=Cosmic Relief] asterices [/QUOTE] Okay, that is just plain evil. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Wee\_Bairn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/90db22/32.png) [@Wee\_Bairn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wee_Bairn)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2008, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-stop-using-quotes-for-emphasis/441201/44 "2008-03-13T15:56:49Z")
Welcome to you’re “DOOM”. ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2008, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-stop-using-quotes-for-emphasis/441201/45 "2008-03-13T16:14:49Z")
[QUOTE=Nava] I’m guilty of doing it on the board, sorry. Will stop… do you mind if I use \*\* or \_\_? It’s just faster than typing [b] or changing to the mouse… [/QUOTE] Aha! A self-confessed quote-for-emphasis user! All our questions may yet be answered! My question is, Why? What has brought you to think that this is the thing to do? I ask out of genuine curiosity–I really do want to know why people do this. Where did you learn it? Why did you not notice how strange it looks? Etc. -FrL- ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2008, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-stop-using-quotes-for-emphasis/441201/46 "2008-03-13T16:19:07Z")
[QUOTE=AudreyK] We “Deliver” What the hell is that supposed to mean? Is it not really delivery? Do they just chuck the arrangement in your general direction and call it “delivered”? [/QUOTE] I always think of oddly-placed quotes as an expression of _wink-wink-nudge-nudge_. So your example made me picture a flower delivery service where every “delivery” turns into a porn movie. I never realized people add quotes for emphasis, I’ve never parsed it that way. Like **Bayard** , I get cards with “Jessica” written on the inside from older folks. I got a Christmas card from my neighbors this year that they just stuck in my mailbox without postage. It said “Jessica” on the front of the envelope. When I read it I had a laugh thinking that they used “Jessica” to mean “The neighbor we call ‘Jessica’ but behind her back we call her ‘Something Much Worse’” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![kidchameleon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/898d66/32.png) [@kidchameleon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kidchameleon)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2008, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-stop-using-quotes-for-emphasis/441201/47 "2008-03-13T16:47:31Z")
[QUOTE=friedo] The term for that is “scare quotes.” I think it’s because they’re so “scary.” [/QUOTE] “”“”“”“”““Boo!””“”“”“”“” ---
**Author:** ![Jodi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7feea3/32.png) [@Jodi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jodi)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2008, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-stop-using-quotes-for-emphasis/441201/48 "2008-03-13T17:03:16Z")
[QUOTE=Polycarp] **Jshore** is precisely on the money. The use of quotation marks around a single word or phrase . . . [is] . . .equivalent to placing a “so-called” in front of the term, but slightly more tactful. [/QUOTE] Which is why my favorite from the linked blog is _Chili with “Chicken”_. So-called chicken. Alleged chicken. Let’s-just-all-agree-to-call-it chicken. Because, mmmboy, there’s nothing I love more than some hot fresh “chicken.” ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2008, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-stop-using-quotes-for-emphasis/441201/49 "2008-03-13T17:29:44Z")
[QUOTE=Cosmic Relief] To expand for WhyNot, assuming he/she wasn’t trolling: [/QUOTE] Woo-hoo! That “psychic trolling” class I’ve been taking is really starting to “pay off”! (This is my first post in this thread, for the “slower” folks reading right now.) ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2008, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-stop-using-quotes-for-emphasis/441201/50 "2008-03-13T17:51:04Z")
I had a Speech Teacher who was quite irritated by those who say “quotes” when they mean “quotation marks.” ---
**Author:** ![A\_Priori\_Tea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3bc359/32.png) [@A\_Priori\_Tea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A_Priori_Tea)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2008, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-stop-using-quotes-for-emphasis/441201/51 "2008-03-13T17:57:55Z")
[QUOTE=WhyNot] Woo-hoo! That “psychic trolling” class I’ve been taking is really starting to “pay off”! (This is my first post in this thread, for the “slower” folks reading right now.) [/QUOTE] Damn - and I popped in here just to see what you had to say! 😉 To the best of my recollection (from a typography class lo these many moons ago), “scare quotes” started being used in signage because they were cheaper and easier to use than changing fonts or adding an underline or similar. As in, the client would say “I’d like to really emphasize this word - maybe underline it?” The sign maker (not representative of all sign makers, obviously, just an example) would say “Adding an underline to only that word requires X more time and Y more money, because of our incredibly complex procedures. How about quotes around it instead? That means the same thing, and is cheaper!” And then the next client sees that everybody else is doing it, so even when the underlining, etc. is just as cheap and easy (due to tech advances) as quotes, they want to do it the way everybody else does, or it looks natural to them now. Of course, it still completely boggles my mind when I see a hand-painted sign that uses them, but I attribute it to the “everyone else does it” effect. It makes me want to run up to the owner, baa furiously, and run away. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2008, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-stop-using-quotes-for-emphasis/441201/52 "2008-03-13T18:01:34Z")
[QUOTE=WhyNot] Woo-hoo! That “psychic trolling” class I’ve been taking is really starting to “pay off”! (This is my first post in this thread, for the “slower” folks reading right now.) [/QUOTE] I suspect he got confused between you and me, but I am unsure how he could take my post for trolling, so maybe I am wrong and you were doing it “psychically”. 😉 I saw someone else recently mention our names are similar enough that they have to stop and think sometimes. WhyNot = Wiccan Mom and What Exit? = Jersey guy/Yankee Fan. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2008, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-stop-using-quotes-for-emphasis/441201/53 "2008-03-13T18:28:25Z")
[QUOTE=Mijin] I dunno, that parses fine for me. It’s saying they’re known for providing quality products. Like a nickname e.g. Hillary “steady as she goes” Clinton. [/QUOTE] “Quality people, quality products” parses to me, because it reads as if the sign-maker is indeed quoting _someone else_ (perhaps some un-named or hypothetical reviewer or customer). ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2008, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-stop-using-quotes-for-emphasis/441201/54 "2008-03-13T18:41:59Z")
There is an office whose back door I walk by occasionally, and every time I do I have to snicker: Groundwater & Environmental Services, Inc. _ **"Please Use Front Door"** _ That’s just a really bad company motto, you know? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2008, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-stop-using-quotes-for-emphasis/441201/55 "2008-03-13T19:21:28Z")
Scare quotes are but one instance of attributive quotes, **all** of which are _properly_ set off with quotation marks. All they mean is, this is the referent’s chosen term, and not necessarily mine. Scare quotes, sometimes called “sneer quotes,” are the subset where the writer strongly disagrees with the referent. ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2008, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-stop-using-quotes-for-emphasis/441201/56 "2008-03-13T19:54:35Z")
I’ve seen Dave Barry expounding on this very topic. He thinks people do for decoration. _“Fresh” tomatoes!_ looks so much more enticing that the mere _Fresh Tomato_. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2008, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-stop-using-quotes-for-emphasis/441201/57 "2008-03-13T21:09:45Z")
[QUOTE=WhyNot] Woo-hoo! That “psychic trolling” class I’ve been taking is really starting to “pay off”! [/quote] Oh. My mistake. I “apologize”. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2008, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-stop-using-quotes-for-emphasis/441201/58 "2008-03-13T21:14:11Z")
[QUOTE=friedo] The term for that is “scare quotes.” I think it’s because they’re so “scary.” [/QUOTE] It’s a form of poisoning the well, of putting whatever is inside the quotes in a negative light. I’ve read some of Noam Chomsky’s books where 10% of the content is ominous-sounding quoted terms whose source is never attributed. It’s a trashy way to write, and it’s even worse when someone does it intending to add emphasis. ---
**Author:** ![Punoqllads](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/d2c977/32.png) [@Punoqllads](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Punoqllads)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2008, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-stop-using-quotes-for-emphasis/441201/59 "2008-03-13T21:19:39Z")
On a related note, how about “Fresh” Strawberry’s For Sale “Here” ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2008, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-stop-using-quotes-for-emphasis/441201/60 "2008-03-13T21:54:18Z")
[QUOTE=Punoqllads] On a related note, how about “Fresh” Strawberry’s For Sale “Here” [/QUOTE] Your going to love them! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-stop-using-quotes-for-emphasis/441201.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-stop-using-quotes-for-emphasis/441201.md?page=4)