# Why do we use the \* instead of quotation marks? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [December 9, 2000, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-use-the-instead-of-quotation-marks/44734 "2000-12-09T05:16:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Azazel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/838e76/32.png) [@Azazel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Azazel)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2000, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-use-the-instead-of-quotation-marks/44734/1 "2000-12-09T05:16:02Z")
I’m sure there must be a simple explanation, but could someone enlighten me? ---
**Author:** ![mblackwell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5fc32e/32.png) [@mblackwell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mblackwell)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2000, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-use-the-instead-of-quotation-marks/44734/2 "2000-12-09T05:26:21Z")
Where do we do this? ---
**Author:** ![Azazel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/838e76/32.png) [@Azazel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Azazel)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2000, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-use-the-instead-of-quotation-marks/44734/3 "2000-12-09T06:00:26Z")
I have seen, I guess mostly on websites, that whenever quotes are used,they seem to be stars (\*), instead of quotation marks ("). example: service is _paid_ for. instead of: service is “paid” for. I thought there might be an HTML reason or something. ---
**Author:** ![Corixidae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@Corixidae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corixidae)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2000, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-use-the-instead-of-quotation-marks/44734/4 "2000-12-09T06:29:40Z")
I don’t think people are using asterisks in place of quotation marks. I use asterisks in _plain-text_ forums or email when I would use **bold text** otherwise – it’s a method to make something stand out, to enforce the words behind it. To stress them. At least that’s how I use them. ---
**Author:** ![SPOOFE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2000, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-use-the-instead-of-quotation-marks/44734/5 "2000-12-09T06:56:57Z")
I use \*'s as kibble. They’re extremely tasty, especially if they’ve been marinated in ¤ and sprinkled with a few ¥’s. ---
**Author:** ![Geek\_Mecha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecae2f/32.png) [@Geek\_Mecha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Geek_Mecha)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2000, 7:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-use-the-instead-of-quotation-marks/44734/6 "2000-12-09T07:28:42Z")
I use either \*s or ::s to enclose an action. For example: _throws cream pie at KKBattousai_ ::runs and hides:: Which one I use depends on whichever I feel like using at the moment. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2000, 9:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-use-the-instead-of-quotation-marks/44734/7 "2000-12-09T09:23:50Z")
Years ago, only plain text was available for most e-mails and message boards. Some clever people came up with a way to overcome that shortcoming. This is _bold_ This is /italic/ This is _underlined_ These conventions are not really necessary here, since we have **bold** , _italic_ and underlined, but old habits die hard. ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2000, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-use-the-instead-of-quotation-marks/44734/8 "2000-12-09T14:05:45Z")
Or are you talking about thread titles here at the SDMB? There’s a bug in the software that sometimes cuts off anything in a thread title after a quotation mark, so we use \* instead. This explains some of the thread titles like, “Whatever happened to” and it’s blank after that. There was something in quotation marks after the “to” and the software cut it off. Didn’t somebody find a way around this once? I don’t remember. Didn’t it have something to do with Preview/Not Preview? Anyway, I just always use asterisks in my thread titles. ---
**Author:** ![hawthorne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@hawthorne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hawthorne)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2000, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-use-the-instead-of-quotation-marks/44734/9 "2000-12-09T14:21:44Z")
> [@](#): > > Didn’t somebody find a way around this once? I don’t remember. Didn’t it have something to do with Preview/Not Preview? Yep. When you have quotes in the thread title and you use preview the thread title gets truncated. You can avoid this either by not previewing or (better) previewing, hitting the “back” button and posting from there. ---
**Author:** ![Azazel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/838e76/32.png) [@Azazel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Azazel)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2000, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-use-the-instead-of-quotation-marks/44734/10 "2000-12-09T14:24:10Z")
I think the _boldface_ answer was what I was looking for. I’ve not been on the internet long enough to remember plain text e-mail and message boards, so some conventions are a little strange to me. Thanks, -A ---
**Author:** ![Welfy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e56c9b/32.png) [@Welfy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Welfy)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2000, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-use-the-instead-of-quotation-marks/44734/11 "2000-12-09T23:07:43Z")
Well, I use them to either emphasize: ex. I already _had_ ten watermelons! or to portray an action: ex. _scampers about laughing_ I do this for actions because using the :: really sucks when you are always forgetting to disable smilies. ::pouts:: See? ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2000, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-use-the-instead-of-quotation-marks/44734/12 "2000-12-10T00:45:40Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by picmr \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > Didn’t somebody find a way around this once? I don’t remember. Didn’t it have something to do with Preview/Not Preview? > > Yep. When you have quotes in the thread title and you use preview the thread title gets truncated. You can avoid this either by not previewing or (better) previewing, hitting the “back” button and posting from there.\*\* I’m pretty sure you can use single quotes like ‘this’, or you can do what I do, which is to use alt+0147 and alt+0148 like “this”.