Scare quotes are quotation marks used for purposes other than to identify a direct quotation, mostly as a flag to provoke in the reader a negative association for the word enclosed in the quotes. The conversational equivalent of scare quotes is a hand gesture known as air quotes or finger quotes, which mimics the appearance of quotation marks. For the Wikipedia quotation template, see here. ... AIR QUOTES ARE ANNOYING! SAYS WHO? SAYS ME! FUCK AIR QUOTES! I HATE THEM! THEYRE JUST SICK VARIANTS OF THE PEACE SIGN! ...
The effect of using scare quotes is often similar to inserting so-called to modify a word, although that usage does not take quotation marks. Scare quotes may thus be used to express disagreement with the original speaker's intended meaning without actually establishing grounds for disagreement, or even explicitly acknowledging it. As they essentially constitute an expression of disdain, scare quotes are sometimes called sneer quotes. Scare quotes are generally avoided in serious, impartial writing, such as in encyclopedia articles.
Style guides generally recommend that scare quotes (and other quotation marks around words used in a special sense) are in the same style (single or double) as those used elsewhere in the work.[1] The Chicago Manual of Style, however, says to use them as little as possible. The Chicago Manual of Style (CMS) is a highly regarded style guide for American English, dealing with questions of style, manuscript preparation, and, to a lesser degree, usage. ...
Examples
Democrat: We've heard about these Republicans and their tax "relief".
Republican: The Democrats have proposed yet another form of "common-sense" gun control.
References
^ e.g. Butcher J, Drake C, Leach M (2006) Butcher's Copy-Editing: the Cambridge Handbook for Editors, Copy-Editors and Proofreaders. 4th edn. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
External links
Scare Quotes (University of Sussex Guide to Punctuation / Larry Trask)
In journalism, scarequotes are quotation marks used for any other purpose than to identify a direct quotation, such as for emphasis or irony.
The effect of using scarequotes is similar to inserting so-called to modify a word: in both cases, the object is to express disagreement with the word, but only by calling attention to the word without actually explaining why the author disagrees with it.
The spoken equivalent of scarequotes are known as air quotes or finger quotes.
Quotes are also sometimes used for emphasis in lieu of underlining or italics, most commonly found on signs or placards.
Straight quotes (or italic straight quotes) are often used to approximate the prime and double prime (e.g., when signifying inches and feet, or arcminutes and arcseconds).
Curved and straight quotes are also sometimes referred to as “smart quotes” and "dumb quotes" respectively; these names are in reference to the name of a function found in word processors like Microsoft Word that automatically converts straight quotes typed by the user into curved quotes.
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