# 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:** 4
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2008, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-stop-using-quotes-for-emphasis/441201/61 "2008-03-13T23:16:09Z")
> [@What Exit?](#): > > As to the random Caps, I am very guilty of that one. However, I do it far less than when I joined the SDMB. I think it comes from being an older programmer. As an RPG/COBOL programmer, we only have effectively one font available and no bolding or anything else. So many if not most of us get in the habit of using Caps and even ALL CAPS to emphasize key words. In fact this is habit is actually an improvement over the even older programmers that just used ALL CAPS all the time. That’s a really interesting perspective on it, and probably good for my blood pressure. Actually, I almost kind of like it know that I know it’s from an ancient programming language. Kind of quirky, like some kind of programming version of indie lingo. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Them](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/898d66/32.png) [@The\_Them](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Them)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2008, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-stop-using-quotes-for-emphasis/441201/62 "2008-03-14T22:54:12Z")
**Cosmic,** you are a fine and wonderful person. Praise YOU! In this spirit, please that this is meant as “constructive criticism.” **TRY** kicking my balls, you worthless dictatorial piece of shit. WTF is with you? We use “quotes,” **boldface** , _italics,_ underlining, and other things in our vain effort to give a semblance of spoken words to our crude written words. If you don’t PREFER intonation, don’t use it. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2008, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-stop-using-quotes-for-emphasis/441201/63 "2008-03-14T23:09:41Z")
Am I the only person who exclusively uses _single_ quotes for this? Double quotes are for, well, quotes. (And by “this”, I mean adding doubt, not adding emphasis.) ---
**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 14, 2008, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-stop-using-quotes-for-emphasis/441201/64 "2008-03-14T23:55:29Z")
[QUOTE=The Them] WTF is with you? We use “quotes,” **boldface** , _italics,_ underlining, and other things in our vain effort to give a semblance of spoken words to our crude written words. If you don’t PREFER intonation, don’t use it. 🙂 [/QUOTE] You missed the entire point, ding-dong. Quotation marks ARE about conveying intonation. Specifically they tend to convey an intonation of sarcasm or superiority. When you use them for emphasis, you’re unintentionally sounding like a dickhead. And most likely you sound like an illiterate dickhead, because it will be clear from the context that you meant something else (what that might be is anyone’s guess however). I’m all for intonation. Just make sure the intonation you convey is what you really intended to convey. “I’m an idiot” is probably not what you really wanted to say. ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2008, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-stop-using-quotes-for-emphasis/441201/65 "2008-03-15T00:27:46Z")
[QUOTE=Cosmic Relief] I’m all for intonation. Just make sure the intonation you convey is what you really intended to convey. “I’m an idiot” is probably not what you really wanted to say. [/QUOTE] Is it really such a bad thing that he said it, though? I mean, now we know, right? ---
**Author:** ![Katriona](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/katriona/32/113_2.png) [@Katriona](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Katriona)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2008, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-stop-using-quotes-for-emphasis/441201/66 "2008-03-15T00:41:10Z")
I’m probably guilty of this, but I have to admit, we still laugh about the wedding card that came addressed to T. and “Kat” (Last Name). I have no idea to this day, nearly 17 years later, why I was in quotes. ---
**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 15, 2008, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-stop-using-quotes-for-emphasis/441201/67 "2008-03-15T01:32:06Z")
[QUOTE=Hostile Dialect] Is it really such a bad thing that he said it, though? I mean, now we know, right? [/QUOTE] You make a good point, sir. This shit is getting totally out of hand. I got an email the other day that said: ‘How nice it was to “see” all of you last night!’ It wasn’t a teleconference. You really did see everyone who was there. Those who were not there, you did not “see”, virtually or otherwise. Unless you somehow “saw” them in the spirit world. Another gem: ‘Please join us for a celebration to express how much we “appreciate” our employees.’ Actually I should let this one go. They said they’re bringing donuts, but it’s entirely possible they plan to kill us all, thereby showing “appreciation”. ---
**Author:** ![Sleel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/73ab20/32.png) [@Sleel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sleel)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2008, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-stop-using-quotes-for-emphasis/441201/68 "2008-03-17T05:32:04Z")
[QUOTE=TokyoPlayer] You see this a lot in “English Translations” of Japanese Material, where the equivalent of “quotation marks” can be used for Emphasis, although the Random Capitalization is strictly at the request of German students. [/QUOTE] It was truly annoying when the Japan Times and I think one other English newspaper (Mainichi maybe) were consistently using quotes around the word, _“gyoza,”_ when they should have been using italics during that whole tainted food mess that got so much press recently. Or perhaps they **meant** to imply that the Chinese dumplings in question weren’t actually _gyoza_, but were in fact ersatz _gyoza_. “I don’t know what to say. ‘I’m sorry’?” “Not using it right, Joey.” ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2008, 7:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-stop-using-quotes-for-emphasis/441201/69 "2008-03-17T07:41:29Z")
[QUOTE=Punoqllads] On a related note, how about “Fresh” Strawberry’s For Sale “Here” [/QUOTE] The Strawberry’s _what_? ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2008, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-stop-using-quotes-for-emphasis/441201/70 "2008-03-17T12:41:13Z")
To show emphatic stress of a word, the typographic standard is to use italics. But on this message board italics don’t stand out very much for some reason, and are easy to miss. So I sometimes use capitals, instead. Before computers, I believe, people used underlining. I don’t see OP’s complaint enough in the English-speaking world enough to pit it, but it _is_ very common in Latin America to put one’s own name in quotations marks when signing off a hand-written note–especially for women. ---
**Author:** ![DeadlyAccurate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ac91a4/32.png) [@DeadlyAccurate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeadlyAccurate)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2008, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-stop-using-quotes-for-emphasis/441201/71 "2008-03-17T13:29:17Z")
[QUOTE=Katriona] I’m probably guilty of this, but I have to admit, we still laugh about the wedding card that came addressed to T. and “Kat” (Last Name). I have no idea to this day, nearly 17 years later, why I was in quotes. [/QUOTE] Best guess I have is that Kat was a nickname, and they were thinking of it like: Katherine “Kat” Cruise So it made sense in their mind to put Kat in quotes when naming both: Tom and “Kat” Cruise ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2008, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-stop-using-quotes-for-emphasis/441201/72 "2008-03-17T14:26:52Z")
[QUOTE=begbert2] Am I the only person who exclusively uses _single_ quotes for this? Double quotes are for, well, quotes. (And by “this”, I mean adding doubt, not adding emphasis.) [/QUOTE] I’m not certain, but I was of the impression that single quotes were best used for paraphrase: > [@](#): > > In summary, **begbert** ’s thesis is: ‘use single quotes for adding doubt’. Another use was for nested quotations - quotes within quotes: > [@](#): > > As Jack said, “Jill often remarked ‘…I’d rather die than incorrectly use quotation marks’, and she meant it”. Any other common uses for single quotation marks? ---
**Author:** ![Sophistry\_and\_Illusion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Sophistry\_and\_Illusion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sophistry_and_Illusion)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2008, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-stop-using-quotes-for-emphasis/441201/73 "2008-03-17T14:36:01Z")
[QUOTE=coffinjumper] I not only get behind this completely, but I offer a link to one of my favorite blogs. [The “Blog” of “Unnecessary” Quotation Marks](http://quotation-marks.blogspot.com/) [/QUOTE] Asshole. I think this website made me herniate myself laughing. I’m glad my officemates aren’t in yet. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2008, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-stop-using-quotes-for-emphasis/441201/74 "2008-03-17T15:04:54Z")
And in other news, there’s an ad on the Toronto subway for Rexall drug stores; they’re advertising their services for prescription holders. The headline is similar to the following: > [@](#): > > When your prescription says refill, it doesn’t mean eventually. “Refill” and “eventually” should have quotes and don’t. I wonder whether someone overreacted to all the “stupid quotation” around? ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2008, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-stop-using-quotes-for-emphasis/441201/75 "2008-03-17T15:31:30Z")
Can I bitch about the use of apostrophe’s for plural’s here?! It is a more subtle, less intrusive form of punctuation retardation that therefore drives me all the more insane. ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2008, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-stop-using-quotes-for-emphasis/441201/76 "2008-03-17T19:06:32Z")
[QUOTE=Malthus] I’m not certain, but I was of the impression that single quotes were best used for paraphrase: Another use was for nested quotations - quotes within quotes: Any other common uses for single quotation marks? [/QUOTE] I may have miswritten; I didn’t mean that I only use "‘"s to indicate :dubious: and for no other purpose; I meant that I only use "’"s, and _not_ “”"s, for that particular purpose. “'” clearly has other uses, for both nested quotations and in the composition singular and plural possessive words. I also have been known to use "'"s to indicate a phrase that is not an _actual_ quote, but that could have been, such as, we’re going to use the ‘get up and go’ strategy now. This is probably incorrect usage but I don’t particularly care. ---
**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 17, 2008, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-stop-using-quotes-for-emphasis/441201/77 "2008-03-17T19:18:07Z")
[QUOTE=DrCube] Can I bitch about the use of apostrophe’s for plural’s here?! It is a more subtle, less intrusive form of punctuation retardation that therefore drives me all the more insane. [/QUOTE] Sure, bitch away, but if you want to see any changes you should specify what you are seeing wrong and how it should be. Statements complaining about something without examples and corrections seem to drive me a little “insane”. 😉 Jim ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2008, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-stop-using-quotes-for-emphasis/441201/78 "2008-03-17T19:32:29Z")
Apostrophes for plurals are _never_ correct, _ever_. That’s not 100% true (an argument could be made for “90’s”, for example, although IMO “90s” works just as well), but if you pretend it is, you’ll probably never get it wrong. ---
**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 17, 2008, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-stop-using-quotes-for-emphasis/441201/79 "2008-03-17T19:44:39Z")
[QUOTE=Hostile Dialect] Apostrophes for plurals are _never_ correct, _ever_. That’s not 100% true (an argument could be made for “90’s”, for example, although IMO “90s” works just as well), but if you pretend it is, you’ll probably never get it wrong. [/QUOTE] That explains what he meant better, but then I should have been able to parse his meaning. So I apologize to **DrCube**. ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2008, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-stop-using-quotes-for-emphasis/441201/80 "2008-03-17T19:56:42Z")
If you read **DrCube** ’s post _very carefully_ you’ll notice something you missed… -FrL- [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-stop-using-quotes-for-emphasis/441201.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-stop-using-quotes-for-emphasis/441201.md?page=5)