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'''Scare quotes''' or '''shudder quotes''' are [[quotation mark]]s placed around a word or phrase to imply that it may not signify its apparent meaning or that it is not necessarily the way the quoting person would express its concept. The quotes serve a function similar to verbally prefixing a phrase with "[[wikt:so-called|so-called]]". When referred to as "scare quotes", the quotation marks are suggested to imply skepticism of or disagreement with the quoted terminology.

== History ==

Use of the term ''scare quotes'' appears to have arisen at some point during the first half of the 20th century. Occurrence of the term in books appears as early as 1946 in ''Southern California: An Island on the Land'' by Carey McWilliams<ref>{{Citation|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=jcCrQC8rBPgC&pg=PA298|page=298|title=Southern California: An Island on the Land|isbn=9780879050078|author1=McWilliams|first1=Carey|year=1946}}</ref> and in the 1950s in academic literature.<ref>{{citation
| title = [[Mind (journal)|Mind]] | publisher = [[Oxford University Press]] | year = 1956 | location = [[Oxford]] | volume = LXV | page = 3 | issn = 0026-4423 | oclc = 40463594}}</ref><ref>{{citation | title = [[Analysis (journal)|Analysis]] | publisher = [[Basil Blackwell]] | year = 1956 | location = [[Oxford]] | volume = 17 | page = 138 | issn = 0003-2638 | oclc = 49855776}}</ref>

== Usage ==

Writers use scare quotes for a variety of reasons. When the enclosed text is a quotation from another source, scare quotes may indicate that the writer does not accept the usage of the phrase (or the phrase itself),<ref>{{citation
| first1 = Raymond W. | last1 = Gibbs
| authorlink1 = | title = The Poetics of Mind | publisher = [[Cambridge University Press]] | year = 1994 | location = [[Cambridge]] | page = 379 | url = http://books.google.com/?id=tTB_n4RrAJYC&printsec=frontcover#PPA379,M1
| isbn = 978-0-521-42992-4 | oclc = 29259099}}</ref> that the writer feels its use is potentially ironic, or that the writer feels it is a misnomer. This meaning may serve to distance the writer from the quoted content.

If scare quotes are enclosing a word or phrase that does not represent a quotation from another source they may simply serve to alert the reader that the word or phrase is used in an unusual, special, or non-standard way or should be understood to include caveats to the conventional meaning.<ref>{{citation | first1 = Jon | last1 = Wheatley | authorlink1 = | title = Prolegomena to Philosophy | publisher = [[Cengage Learning|Wadsworth]] | year = 1970 | location = [[Belmont, California]] | page = 80 | oclc = 83152}}</ref>

Alternatively, material in scare quotes may represent the writer's concise (but possibly misleading) paraphrasing, characterization, or intentional misrepresentation of statements, concepts, or terms used by a third party. This may be an expression of sarcasm or incredulity, or it may also represent a [[rhetoric]]al attempt to frame a discussion in the writer's desired (non-standard) terms (e.g. a [[circumlocution]], an [[apophasis]], or an [[innuendo]]).

The term ''scare quotes'' may be confusing because the word ''scare'' implies provocation, yet the term covers emotionally neutral usage as well. In many cases an author uses scare quotes not to convey alarm, but to signal a [[semantic]] quibble.

=== Non-acceptance of terminology ===

==== Quotation of another's words ====

Example 1:

* The invention of coinage by the Lydians lies really in this innovation, which, however simple it may seem to us now, was then of deep political significance. When once a state currency was instituted, the private coinages fell out of use, for no individual banker could compete with the guarantee of the state, and the state would not tolerate imitation of its own types. We may therefore take it that the successive stages in the "invention" of coinage were somewhat as follows: first, the occasional practice of stamping certain weights of metal with marks by which they could be identified; this probably continued in private use for a long period before it was adopted by a state, perhaps first by Lydia; and finally the adoption all over the Greek world of a series of state coinages. The convenience of the "invention" was so obvious as to justify the statement of Herodotus that the Lydians were the first nation of shopkeepers.''<ref name="British1908">{{Citation | author = British Museum. Dept. of Greek and Roman Antiquities | authorlink = British Museum | title = A Guide to the Exhibition Illustrating Greek and Roman Life | publisher = [[British Museum]] | year = 1908 | url = http://books.google.com/?id=oUJoAAAAMAAJ&printsec=titlepage#PPA14,M1 | accessdate = 2009-07-22}}</ref>
:: <span style="margin-bottom:1em; font-size:smaller">—A Guide to the Exhibition Illustrating Greek and Roman Life, [[British Museum]], 1908</span>

In this passage the writer uses scare quotes around the word ''invention'' to express the opinion that [[Herodotus]] is incorrect in ascribing to the [[Lydians]] the role of the inventors of [[coin]]age. The writer does not begin enclosing the word ''invention'' in quotation marks until he begins to express skepticism that its usage was appropriate. In this case, unlike many other applications of scare quotes, the enclosed word is an actual quotation from another source.

Example 2:

* ''Kazakhstan's famous "130-year-old"''—Headline on BBC News web site<ref name="Ref_">Demytrie, Rayhan: [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7979599.stm "Kazakhstan's famous '130-year-old'"], ''BBC News'' web site, April 9, 2009.<!-- retrieved April 10, 2009 --></ref>

The quotation marks around ''130-year-old'' indicate that the news source is reporting but not endorsing the claim.

==== Other cases ====

Example:

* ''"normal" people''

The word ''normal'' denotes that something is proper or not defective. A writer who puts ''normal'' in quotation marks may be insinuating that normal is just a point of reference, that it refers to the average. The writer might be arguing that what is normal is not superior in that situation, or that no person could really be called normal in any meaningful way.

=== Negative ===

The effect of using scare quotes is often similar to prepending a skeptical modifier such as ''so-called'' or ''alleged'' to label the quoted word or phrase, to indicate scorn, sarcasm, or irony.<ref name="Trask1">{{Citation|url=http://www.informatics.susx.ac.uk/doc/punctuation/node31.html|title=Scare Quotes|work=University of Sussex Guide to Punctuation|publisher=University of Sussex|first=Larry|last=Trask|authorlink=Larry Trask|year=1997}}</ref> Scare quotes may be used to express disagreement with the original speaker's intended meaning without actually establishing grounds for disagreement or disdain, or without even explicitly acknowledging it. In this type of usage, they are sometimes called "sneer quotes".<ref name="Wisegeek">[http://www.wisegeek.com/what-are-scare-quotes.htm What are Scare Quotes?]</ref>

Examples:

* Liberal: ''We've heard about these conservatives and their tax "relief".''
* Conservative: ''The liberals have proposed yet another form of "common-sense" gun control.''

Political commentator Jonathan Chait wrote in ''The New Republic'' that "The scare quote is the perfect device for making an insinuation without proving it, or even necessarily making clear what you're insinuating."<ref name="Ref_a">Jonathan Chait, [http://www.tnr.com/article/politics/scared-yet "Scared Yet?], ''The New Republic'', Dec. 31, 2008.</ref>

Taiwan-based reporter Dan Bloom wrote in ''The Taipei Times'' that "Beijing propaganda officials also use a Western punctuation device (so-called 'scare-quotes') to blot out Taiwan's dignity and geopolitical space." In [[China]], scare quotes in state-controlled media (using double [[bracket]] quotes as the Chinese equivalent of quotation marks) are often used to belittle the reality of rival nation Taiwan by putting the names of Taiwan's leaders and government bodies in double bracket quote marks.<ref>Dan Bloom, [http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/archives/2012/08/29/2003541438 "Scare quotes blot out Taiwan", ''Taipei Times'', Aug. 29, 2012.]</ref>

Bloom also wrote an editorial-page article in the ''China Post'' headlined "'Scare quotes' having a 'field day' in the 'media'", in which he said that "in the long run-up to the American presidential election this coming November 2012, an epidemic of so-called 'scare quotes' is turning political punditry and commentary into what might be called 'a punctuation epidemic'." His article also said that "when someone on the left or right doesn't like the language of the opposing side, the writer often put the words in scare quotes, to signal to the reader that he or she is of a very different opinion, and as a result, nothing gets resolved and only more confusion and noise results."<ref>Dan Bloom, [http://www.chinapost.com.tw/commentary/the-china-post/special-to-the-china-post/2012/09/09/353692/Scare-quotes.htm "'Scare quotes' having a 'field day' in the 'media'"], ''China Post'', Sept. 9, 2012.</ref>

=== Neutral distancing ===

Enclosing a word or phrase in quotes can also convey a neutral attitude on the part of the writer, while distancing the writer from the terminology in question. The quotes are used to call attention to a [[neologism]], special terminology ([[jargon]]), or a [[slang]] usage, or to indicate words or phrases that are descriptive but unusual, colloquial, folksy, startling, humorous, or metaphoric. They may indicate special terminology that should be identified for accuracy's sake as someone else's, for example if a term (particularly a controversial term) pre-dates the writer or represents the views of someone else.<ref name="Trask1" />

Example:

* Moctezuma II was reported to have had two wives and many concubines, by whom he had a total of 150 children. The king of Texcoco was said to have had more than two thousand "wives" by whom he had had 144 children, 11 born of his chief wife.<ref>{{citation | first1 = Bruce G. | last1 = Trigger | authorlink1 = Bruce G. Trigger | title = Understanding Early Civilizations | publisher = [[Cambridge University Press]] | year = 2003 | location = [[Cambridge]] | page = 178 | url = http://books.google.com/?id=ZEX-yZOAG9IC&printsec=frontcover#PPA179,M1 | isbn = 978-0-521-82245-9 | oclc = 50291226}}</ref>
::<span style="margin-bottom:1em; font-size:smaller">—Bruce G. Trigger, ''Understanding Early Civilizations'' (2003)</span>

In the above passage the writer uses scare quotes to indicate that the reported two thousand partners of [[Nezahualpilli]], poet-astrologer-king of the Mesoamerican state of [[Texcoco (altepetl)|Texcoco]], should not be understood to have been his wives in the same sense that the word ''wife'' is used elsewhere.

Some writers prefer italics for this neutral usage, even though italics may easily be mistaken for emphasis. (This has been humorously labeled "scare italics".<ref name="Suck1">{{Citation|url=http://www.suck.com/daily/2000/03/20/1.html|title=The Jawbone of a Scare Quote|work=Suck.com|date=20 March 2000|first=Scott "Slotcar Hatebath"|last=Hamrah}}<!-- This reference should not be used to cite other facts in this article; as a blog, it is not considered a reliable source generally, per [[WP:RS]]. --></ref>)

Conversely, neutral quotes may indicate that the word or phrase in quotes has changed in meaning since its usage in the specific instance, especially if the word or phrase has gained a controversial or pejorative meaning.

Example:

* Billy Joe's story is analyzed in Professor John Howard's history of gays in Mississippi entitled ''Men Like That: A Queer Southern History'' as an [[archetype]] of what Howard calls the "gay suicide myth".

Howard's use,<ref name="Ref_b">John Howard. Men Like That: A Queer Southern History. ISBN 978-0-226-35470-5.</ref> which refers to the academic meaning of the word ''myth'', is unrelated to the more recent conservative "gay suicide myth" theory that gay teen suicide rates are over-reported so that gay people can claim unrealistic discrimination and obtain special treatment.<ref name="Ref_c">[http://www.traditionalvalues.org/urban/five.php Traditionalvalues.org position on "gay suicide myth"]</ref>

== Style guidelines ==

Style guides generally recommend the avoidance of scare quotes in impartial works, such as in encyclopedia articles or academic discussion.

[[The Chicago Manual of Style|Chicago Manual of Style (CMS), 15th edition]]<ref>{{Citation | url = http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/home.html | title = The Chicago Manual of Style Online | accessdate = 2007-11-08}}</ref><ref>{{citation | first1 = Pam | last1 = Peters | authorlink1 = Pam Peters | title = The Cambridge Guide to Australian English Usage | publisher = [[Cambridge University Press]] | year = 2007 | location = [[City of Melbourne|Melbourne]] | page = 670 | url = http://books.google.com/?id=nV8h0gnU1UEC&printsec=frontcover#PRA1-PA670,M1 | isbn = 978-0-521-87821-0 | oclc = 73994040}}</ref> acknowledges this type of use but cautions against overuse in section 7.58: "Quotation marks are often used to alert readers that a term is used in a nonstandard, ironic, or other special sense [...] They imply 'This is not my term' or 'This is not how the term is ''usually'' applied.' Like any such device, scare quotes lose their force and irritate readers if overused."

== Formatting ==

Scare quotes (and other quotation marks used in a special sense) are usually given in the same style (single or double) as those used elsewhere in a work.<ref name="Butcher4">{{Citation|author=Butcher, J.; Drake, C.; Leach, M.|year=2006|title=Butcher's Copy-Editing: The Cambridge Handbook for Editors, Copy-Editors and Proofreaders|edition=4th|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|location=[[Cambridge, England]]}}</ref>

== In linguistics ==

Single quotation marks are used in [[linguistics]] to mark a [[gloss (annotation)|gloss]] as separate from either the [[metalanguage]], which is used in the descriptive or theoretical prose, or the [[object language]], which is rendered in [[italics]]. The following sentence illustrates this:

* The Latin word ''homo'' means '[[man]]'.

This sentence is about a word in the object language Latin, which appears in italics, and about its counterpart in the gloss language English, enclosed in single quotation marks. The metalanguage, also English, is unaltered.

== In speech ==

[[File:AirQuotes.jpg|thumb|"[[Air quotes]]" are analogous to scare quotes in print]]

In spoken conversation, a stand-in for scare quotes is a hand gesture known as ''[[air quotes]]'' or ''finger quotes'', which mimics the appearance of quotation marks.

A speaker may alternatively say "quote" before and "unquote" after the words that he or she wishes to quote ironically, or say "[[wikt:quote unquote|quote unquote]]" before ''or'' after the quoted words<ref name="John">{{Citation|url=http://www-personal.umich.edu/~jlawler/aue/quote.html |title=Quote, Unquote.|author=John M. Lawler, Prof. Emeritus of Linguistics|publisher=Univ. of Michigan|accessdate=2010-10-09|postscript=}}</ref> or simply pause before and emphasize the parts in quotes. This spoken method is also used for literal and conventional quotes.

The [[Japanese language]] has a very close spoken (and written) equivalent of scare quotes in the form of the postposition '''[[wikt:って|って]]''' (''tte'').

== See also ==

* [[Irony punctuation]]
* [[Quotation]]
{{-}}

== References ==
{{Reflist|30em}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Scare Quotes}}
[[Category:Punctuation]]
[[Category:Rhetoric]]
[[Category:Doubt]]

[[fr:Guillemet#Guillemets ironiques]]

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''''Scare quotes''' or '''shudder quotes''' are [[quotation mark]]s placed around a word or phrase to imply that it may not signify its apparent meaning or that it is not necessarily the way the quoting person would express its concept. The quotes serve a function similar to verbally prefixing a phrase with "[[wikt:so-called|so-called]]". When referred to as "scare quotes", the quotation marks are suggested to imply skepticism of or disagreement with the quoted terminology. == History == Use of the term ''scare quotes'' appears to have arisen at some point during the first half of the 20th century. Occurrence of the term in books appears as early as 1946 in ''Southern California: An Island on the Land'' by Carey McWilliams<ref>{{Citation|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=jcCrQC8rBPgC&pg=PA298|page=298|title=Southern California: An Island on the Land|isbn=9780879050078|author1=McWilliams|first1=Carey|year=1946}}</ref> and in the 1950s in academic literature.<ref>{{citation | title = [[Mind (journal)|Mind]] | publisher = [[Oxford University Press]] | year = 1956 | location = [[Oxford]] | volume = LXV | page = 3 | issn = 0026-4423 | oclc = 40463594}}</ref><ref>{{citation | title = [[Analysis (journal)|Analysis]] | publisher = [[Basil Blackwell]] | year = 1956 | location = [[Oxford]] | volume = 17 | page = 138 | issn = 0003-2638 | oclc = 49855776}}</ref> == Usage == Writers use scare quotes for a variety of reasons. When the enclosed text is a quotation from another source, scare quotes may indicate that the writer does not accept the usage of the phrase (or the phrase itself),<ref>{{citation | first1 = Raymond W. | last1 = Gibbs | authorlink1 = | title = The Poetics of Mind | publisher = [[Cambridge University Press]] | year = 1994 | location = [[Cambridge]] | page = 379 | url = http://books.google.com/?id=tTB_n4RrAJYC&printsec=frontcover#PPA379,M1 | isbn = 978-0-521-42992-4 | oclc = 29259099}}</ref> that the writer feels its use is potentially ironic, or that the writer feels it is a misnomer. This meaning may serve to distance the writer from the quoted content. If scare quotes are enclosing a word or phrase that does not represent a quotation from another source they may simply serve to alert the reader that the word or phrase is used in an unusual, special, or non-standard way or should be understood to include caveats to the conventional meaning.<ref>{{citation | first1 = Jon | last1 = Wheatley | authorlink1 = | title = Prolegomena to Philosophy | publisher = [[Cengage Learning|Wadsworth]] | year = 1970 | location = [[Belmont, California]] | page = 80 | oclc = 83152}}</ref> Alternatively, material in scare quotes may represent the writer's concise (but possibly misleading) paraphrasing, characterization, or intentional misrepresentation of statements, concepts, or terms used by a third party. This may be an expression of sarcasm or incredulity, or it may also represent a [[rhetoric]]al attempt to frame a discussion in the writer's desired (non-standard) terms (e.g. a [[circumlocution]], an [[apophasis]], or an [[innuendo]]). The term ''scare quotes'' may be confusing because the word ''scare'' implies provocation, yet the term covers emotionally neutral usage as well. In many cases an author uses scare quotes not to convey alarm, but to signal a [[semantic]] quibble. === Non-acceptance of terminology === ==== Quotation of another's words ==== Example 1: * The invention of coinage by the Lydians lies really in this innovation, which, however simple it may seem to us now, was then of deep political significance. When once a state currency was instituted, the private coinages fell out of use, for no individual banker could compete with the guarantee of the state, and the state would not tolerate imitation of its own types. We may therefore take it that the successive stages in the "invention" of coinage were somewhat as follows: first, the occasional practice of stamping certain weights of metal with marks by which they could be identified; this probably continued in private use for a long period before it was adopted by a state, perhaps first by Lydia; and finally the adoption all over the Greek world of a series of state coinages. The convenience of the "invention" was so obvious as to justify the statement of Herodotus that the Lydians were the first nation of shopkeepers.''<ref name="British1908">{{Citation | author = British Museum. Dept. of Greek and Roman Antiquities | authorlink = British Museum | title = A Guide to the Exhibition Illustrating Greek and Roman Life | publisher = [[British Museum]] | year = 1908 | url = http://books.google.com/?id=oUJoAAAAMAAJ&printsec=titlepage#PPA14,M1 | accessdate = 2009-07-22}}</ref> :: <span style="margin-bottom:1em; font-size:smaller">—A Guide to the Exhibition Illustrating Greek and Roman Life, [[British Museum]], 1908</span> In this passage the writer uses scare quotes around the word ''invention'' to express the opinion that [[Herodotus]] is incorrect in ascribing to the [[Lydians]] the role of the inventors of [[coin]]age. The writer does not begin enclosing the word ''invention'' in quotation marks until he begins to express skepticism that its usage was appropriate. In this case, unlike many other applications of scare quotes, the enclosed word is an actual quotation from another source. Example 2: * ''Kazakhstan's famous "130-year-old"''—Headline on BBC News web site<ref name="Ref_">Demytrie, Rayhan: [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7979599.stm "Kazakhstan's famous '130-year-old'"], ''BBC News'' web site, April 9, 2009.<!-- retrieved April 10, 2009 --></ref> The quotation marks around ''130-year-old'' indicate that the news source is reporting but not endorsing the claim. ==== Other cases ==== Example: * ''"normal" people'' The word ''normal'' denotes that something is proper or not defective. A writer who puts ''normal'' in quotation marks may be insinuating that normal is just a point of reference, that it refers to the average. The writer might be arguing that what is normal is not superior in that situation, or that no person could really be called normal in any meaningful way. === Negative === The effect of using scare quotes is often similar to prepending a skeptical modifier such as ''so-called'' or ''alleged'' to label the quoted word or phrase, to indicate scorn, sarcasm, or irony.<ref name="Trask1">{{Citation|url=http://www.informatics.susx.ac.uk/doc/punctuation/node31.html|title=Scare Quotes|work=University of Sussex Guide to Punctuation|publisher=University of Sussex|first=Larry|last=Trask|authorlink=Larry Trask|year=1997}}</ref> Scare quotes may be used to express disagreement with the original speaker's intended meaning without actually establishing grounds for disagreement or disdain, or without even explicitly acknowledging it. In this type of usage, they are sometimes called "sneer quotes".<ref name="Wisegeek">[http://www.wisegeek.com/what-are-scare-quotes.htm What are Scare Quotes?]</ref> Examples: * Liberal: ''We've heard about these conservatives and their tax "relief".'' * Conservative: ''The liberals have proposed yet another form of "common-sense" gun control.'' Political commentator Jonathan Chait wrote in ''The New Republic'' that "The scare quote is the perfect device for making an insinuation without proving it, or even necessarily making clear what you're insinuating."<ref name="Ref_a">Jonathan Chait, [http://www.tnr.com/article/politics/scared-yet "Scared Yet?], ''The New Republic'', Dec. 31, 2008.</ref> Taiwan-based reporter Dan Bloom wrote in ''The Taipei Times'' that "Beijing propaganda officials also use a Western punctuation device (so-called 'scare-quotes') to blot out Taiwan's dignity and geopolitical space." In [[China]], scare quotes in state-controlled media (using double [[bracket]] quotes as the Chinese equivalent of quotation marks) are often used to belittle the reality of rival nation Taiwan by putting the names of Taiwan's leaders and government bodies in double bracket quote marks.<ref>Dan Bloom, [http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/archives/2012/08/29/2003541438 "Scare quotes blot out Taiwan", ''Taipei Times'', Aug. 29, 2012.]</ref> Bloom also wrote an editorial-page article in the ''China Post'' headlined "'Scare quotes' having a 'field day' in the 'media'", in which he said that "in the long run-up to the American presidential election this coming November 2012, an epidemic of so-called 'scare quotes' is turning political punditry and commentary into what might be called 'a punctuation epidemic'." His article also said that "when someone on the left or right doesn't like the language of the opposing side, the writer often put the words in scare quotes, to signal to the reader that he or she is of a very different opinion, and as a result, nothing gets resolved and only more confusion and noise results."<ref>Dan Bloom, [http://www.chinapost.com.tw/commentary/the-china-post/special-to-the-china-post/2012/09/09/353692/Scare-quotes.htm "'Scare quotes' having a 'field day' in the 'media'"], ''China Post'', Sept. 9, 2012.</ref> === Neutral distancing === Enclosing a word or phrase in quotes can also convey a neutral attitude on the part of the writer, while distancing the writer from the terminology in question. The quotes are used to call attention to a [[neologism]], special terminology ([[jargon]]), or a [[slang]] usage, or to indicate words or phrases that are descriptive but unusual, colloquial, folksy, startling, humorous, or metaphoric. They may indicate special terminology that should be identified for accuracy's sake as someone else's, for example if a term (particularly a controversial term) pre-dates the writer or represents the views of someone else.<ref name="Trask1" /> Example: * Moctezuma II was reported to have had two wives and many concubines, by whom he had a total of 150 children. The king of Texcoco was said to have had more than two thousand "wives" by whom he had had 144 children, 11 born of his chief wife.<ref>{{citation | first1 = Bruce G. | last1 = Trigger | authorlink1 = Bruce G. Trigger | title = Understanding Early Civilizations | publisher = [[Cambridge University Press]] | year = 2003 | location = [[Cambridge]] | page = 178 | url = http://books.google.com/?id=ZEX-yZOAG9IC&printsec=frontcover#PPA179,M1 | isbn = 978-0-521-82245-9 | oclc = 50291226}}</ref> ::<span style="margin-bottom:1em; font-size:smaller">—Bruce G. Trigger, ''Understanding Early Civilizations'' (2003)</span> In the above passage the writer uses scare quotes to indicate that the reported two thousand partners of [[Nezahualpilli]], poet-astrologer-king of the Mesoamerican state of [[Texcoco (altepetl)|Texcoco]], should not be understood to have been his wives in the same sense that the word ''wife'' is used elsewhere. Some writers prefer italics for this neutral usage, even though italics may easily be mistaken for emphasis. (This has been humorously labeled "scare italics".<ref name="Suck1">{{Citation|url=http://www.suck.com/daily/2000/03/20/1.html|title=The Jawbone of a Scare Quote|work=Suck.com|date=20 March 2000|first=Scott "Slotcar Hatebath"|last=Hamrah}}<!-- This reference should not be used to cite other facts in this article; as a blog, it is not considered a reliable source generally, per [[WP:RS]]. --></ref>) Conversely, neutral quotes may indicate that the word or phrase in quotes has changed in meaning since its usage in the specific instance, especially if the word or phrase has gained a controversial or pejorative meaning. Example: * Billy Joe's story is analyzed in Professor John Howard's history of gays in Mississippi entitled ''Men Like That: A Queer Southern History'' as an [[archetype]] of what Howard calls the "gay suicide myth". Howard's use,<ref name="Ref_b">John Howard. Men Like That: A Queer Southern History. ISBN 978-0-226-35470-5.</ref> which refers to the academic meaning of the word ''myth'', is unrelated to the more recent conservative "gay suicide myth" theory that gay teen suicide rates are over-reported so that gay people can claim unrealistic discrimination and obtain special treatment.<ref name="Ref_c">[http://www.traditionalvalues.org/urban/five.php Traditionalvalues.org position on "gay suicide myth"]</ref> == Style guidelines == Style guides generally recommend the avoidance of scare quotes in impartial works, such as in encyclopedia articles or academic discussion. [[The Chicago Manual of Style|Chicago Manual of Style (CMS), 15th edition]]<ref>{{Citation | url = http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/home.html | title = The Chicago Manual of Style Online | accessdate = 2007-11-08}}</ref><ref>{{citation | first1 = Pam | last1 = Peters | authorlink1 = Pam Peters | title = The Cambridge Guide to Australian English Usage | publisher = [[Cambridge University Press]] | year = 2007 | location = [[City of Melbourne|Melbourne]] | page = 670 | url = http://books.google.com/?id=nV8h0gnU1UEC&printsec=frontcover#PRA1-PA670,M1 | isbn = 978-0-521-87821-0 | oclc = 73994040}}</ref> acknowledges this type of use but cautions against overuse in section 7.58: "Quotation marks are often used to alert readers that a term is used in a nonstandard, ironic, or other special sense [...] They imply 'This is not my term' or 'This is not how the term is ''usually'' applied.' Like any such device, scare quotes lose their force and irritate readers if overused." == Formatting == Scare quotes (and other quotation marks used in a special sense) are usually given in the same style (single or double) as those used elsewhere in a work.<ref name="Butcher4">{{Citation|author=Butcher, J.; Drake, C.; Leach, M.|year=2006|title=Butcher's Copy-Editing: The Cambridge Handbook for Editors, Copy-Editors and Proofreaders|edition=4th|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|location=[[Cambridge, England]]}}</ref> == In linguistics == Single quotation marks are used in [[linguistics]] to mark a [[gloss (annotation)|gloss]] as separate from either the [[metalanguage]], which is used in the descriptive or theoretical prose, or the [[object language]], which is rendered in [[italics]]. The following sentence illustrates this: * The Latin word ''homo'' means '[[man]]'. This sentence is about a word in the object language Latin, which appears in italics, and about its counterpart in the gloss language English, enclosed in single quotation marks. The metalanguage, also English, is unaltered. == In speech == [[File:AirQuotes.jpg|thumb|"[[Air quotes]]" are analogous to scare quotes in print]] In spoken conversation, a stand-in for scare quotes is a hand gesture known as ''[[air quotes]]'' or ''finger quotes'', which mimics the appearance of quotation marks. A speaker may alternatively say "quote" before and "unquote" after the words that he or she wishes to quote ironically, or say "[[wikt:quote unquote|quote unquote]]" before ''or'' after the quoted words<ref name="John">{{Citation|url=http://www-personal.umich.edu/~jlawler/aue/quote.html |title=Quote, Unquote.|author=John M. Lawler, Prof. Emeritus of Linguistics|publisher=Univ. of Michigan|accessdate=2010-10-09|postscript=}}</ref> or simply pause before and emphasize the parts in quotes. This spoken method is also used for literal and conventional quotes. The [[Japanese language]] has a very close spoken (and written) equivalent of scare quotes in the form of the postposition '''[[wikt:って|って]]''' (''tte''). == See also == * [[Irony punctuation]] * [[Quotation]] {{-}} == References == {{Reflist|30em}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Scare Quotes}} [[Category:Punctuation]] [[Category:Rhetoric]] [[Category:Doubt]] [[fr:Guillemet#Guillemets ironiques]]'
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'@@ -1,124 +1 @@ -'''Scare quotes''' or '''shudder quotes''' are [[quotation mark]]s placed around a word or phrase to imply that it may not signify its apparent meaning or that it is not necessarily the way the quoting person would express its concept. The quotes serve a function similar to verbally prefixing a phrase with "[[wikt:so-called|so-called]]". When referred to as "scare quotes", the quotation marks are suggested to imply skepticism of or disagreement with the quoted terminology. -== History == - -Use of the term ''scare quotes'' appears to have arisen at some point during the first half of the 20th century. Occurrence of the term in books appears as early as 1946 in ''Southern California: An Island on the Land'' by Carey McWilliams<ref>{{Citation|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=jcCrQC8rBPgC&pg=PA298|page=298|title=Southern California: An Island on the Land|isbn=9780879050078|author1=McWilliams|first1=Carey|year=1946}}</ref> and in the 1950s in academic literature.<ref>{{citation - | title = [[Mind (journal)|Mind]] | publisher = [[Oxford University Press]] | year = 1956 | location = [[Oxford]] | volume = LXV | page = 3 | issn = 0026-4423 | oclc = 40463594}}</ref><ref>{{citation | title = [[Analysis (journal)|Analysis]] | publisher = [[Basil Blackwell]] | year = 1956 | location = [[Oxford]] | volume = 17 | page = 138 | issn = 0003-2638 | oclc = 49855776}}</ref> - -== Usage == - -Writers use scare quotes for a variety of reasons. When the enclosed text is a quotation from another source, scare quotes may indicate that the writer does not accept the usage of the phrase (or the phrase itself),<ref>{{citation - | first1 = Raymond W. | last1 = Gibbs - | authorlink1 = | title = The Poetics of Mind | publisher = [[Cambridge University Press]] | year = 1994 | location = [[Cambridge]] | page = 379 | url = http://books.google.com/?id=tTB_n4RrAJYC&printsec=frontcover#PPA379,M1 - | isbn = 978-0-521-42992-4 | oclc = 29259099}}</ref> that the writer feels its use is potentially ironic, or that the writer feels it is a misnomer. This meaning may serve to distance the writer from the quoted content. - -If scare quotes are enclosing a word or phrase that does not represent a quotation from another source they may simply serve to alert the reader that the word or phrase is used in an unusual, special, or non-standard way or should be understood to include caveats to the conventional meaning.<ref>{{citation | first1 = Jon | last1 = Wheatley | authorlink1 = | title = Prolegomena to Philosophy | publisher = [[Cengage Learning|Wadsworth]] | year = 1970 | location = [[Belmont, California]] | page = 80 | oclc = 83152}}</ref> - -Alternatively, material in scare quotes may represent the writer's concise (but possibly misleading) paraphrasing, characterization, or intentional misrepresentation of statements, concepts, or terms used by a third party. This may be an expression of sarcasm or incredulity, or it may also represent a [[rhetoric]]al attempt to frame a discussion in the writer's desired (non-standard) terms (e.g. a [[circumlocution]], an [[apophasis]], or an [[innuendo]]). - -The term ''scare quotes'' may be confusing because the word ''scare'' implies provocation, yet the term covers emotionally neutral usage as well. In many cases an author uses scare quotes not to convey alarm, but to signal a [[semantic]] quibble. - -=== Non-acceptance of terminology === - -==== Quotation of another's words ==== - -Example 1: - -* The invention of coinage by the Lydians lies really in this innovation, which, however simple it may seem to us now, was then of deep political significance. When once a state currency was instituted, the private coinages fell out of use, for no individual banker could compete with the guarantee of the state, and the state would not tolerate imitation of its own types. We may therefore take it that the successive stages in the "invention" of coinage were somewhat as follows: first, the occasional practice of stamping certain weights of metal with marks by which they could be identified; this probably continued in private use for a long period before it was adopted by a state, perhaps first by Lydia; and finally the adoption all over the Greek world of a series of state coinages. The convenience of the "invention" was so obvious as to justify the statement of Herodotus that the Lydians were the first nation of shopkeepers.''<ref name="British1908">{{Citation | author = British Museum. Dept. of Greek and Roman Antiquities | authorlink = British Museum | title = A Guide to the Exhibition Illustrating Greek and Roman Life | publisher = [[British Museum]] | year = 1908 | url = http://books.google.com/?id=oUJoAAAAMAAJ&printsec=titlepage#PPA14,M1 | accessdate = 2009-07-22}}</ref> -:: <span style="margin-bottom:1em; font-size:smaller">—A Guide to the Exhibition Illustrating Greek and Roman Life, [[British Museum]], 1908</span> - -In this passage the writer uses scare quotes around the word ''invention'' to express the opinion that [[Herodotus]] is incorrect in ascribing to the [[Lydians]] the role of the inventors of [[coin]]age. The writer does not begin enclosing the word ''invention'' in quotation marks until he begins to express skepticism that its usage was appropriate. In this case, unlike many other applications of scare quotes, the enclosed word is an actual quotation from another source. - -Example 2: - -* ''Kazakhstan's famous "130-year-old"''—Headline on BBC News web site<ref name="Ref_">Demytrie, Rayhan: [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7979599.stm "Kazakhstan's famous '130-year-old'"], ''BBC News'' web site, April 9, 2009.<!-- retrieved April 10, 2009 --></ref> - -The quotation marks around ''130-year-old'' indicate that the news source is reporting but not endorsing the claim. - -==== Other cases ==== - -Example: - -* ''"normal" people'' - -The word ''normal'' denotes that something is proper or not defective. A writer who puts ''normal'' in quotation marks may be insinuating that normal is just a point of reference, that it refers to the average. The writer might be arguing that what is normal is not superior in that situation, or that no person could really be called normal in any meaningful way. - -=== Negative === - -The effect of using scare quotes is often similar to prepending a skeptical modifier such as ''so-called'' or ''alleged'' to label the quoted word or phrase, to indicate scorn, sarcasm, or irony.<ref name="Trask1">{{Citation|url=http://www.informatics.susx.ac.uk/doc/punctuation/node31.html|title=Scare Quotes|work=University of Sussex Guide to Punctuation|publisher=University of Sussex|first=Larry|last=Trask|authorlink=Larry Trask|year=1997}}</ref> Scare quotes may be used to express disagreement with the original speaker's intended meaning without actually establishing grounds for disagreement or disdain, or without even explicitly acknowledging it. In this type of usage, they are sometimes called "sneer quotes".<ref name="Wisegeek">[http://www.wisegeek.com/what-are-scare-quotes.htm What are Scare Quotes?]</ref> - -Examples: - -* Liberal: ''We've heard about these conservatives and their tax "relief".'' -* Conservative: ''The liberals have proposed yet another form of "common-sense" gun control.'' - -Political commentator Jonathan Chait wrote in ''The New Republic'' that "The scare quote is the perfect device for making an insinuation without proving it, or even necessarily making clear what you're insinuating."<ref name="Ref_a">Jonathan Chait, [http://www.tnr.com/article/politics/scared-yet "Scared Yet?], ''The New Republic'', Dec. 31, 2008.</ref> - -Taiwan-based reporter Dan Bloom wrote in ''The Taipei Times'' that "Beijing propaganda officials also use a Western punctuation device (so-called 'scare-quotes') to blot out Taiwan's dignity and geopolitical space." In [[China]], scare quotes in state-controlled media (using double [[bracket]] quotes as the Chinese equivalent of quotation marks) are often used to belittle the reality of rival nation Taiwan by putting the names of Taiwan's leaders and government bodies in double bracket quote marks.<ref>Dan Bloom, [http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/archives/2012/08/29/2003541438 "Scare quotes blot out Taiwan", ''Taipei Times'', Aug. 29, 2012.]</ref> - -Bloom also wrote an editorial-page article in the ''China Post'' headlined "'Scare quotes' having a 'field day' in the 'media'", in which he said that "in the long run-up to the American presidential election this coming November 2012, an epidemic of so-called 'scare quotes' is turning political punditry and commentary into what might be called 'a punctuation epidemic'." His article also said that "when someone on the left or right doesn't like the language of the opposing side, the writer often put the words in scare quotes, to signal to the reader that he or she is of a very different opinion, and as a result, nothing gets resolved and only more confusion and noise results."<ref>Dan Bloom, [http://www.chinapost.com.tw/commentary/the-china-post/special-to-the-china-post/2012/09/09/353692/Scare-quotes.htm "'Scare quotes' having a 'field day' in the 'media'"], ''China Post'', Sept. 9, 2012.</ref> - -=== Neutral distancing === - -Enclosing a word or phrase in quotes can also convey a neutral attitude on the part of the writer, while distancing the writer from the terminology in question. The quotes are used to call attention to a [[neologism]], special terminology ([[jargon]]), or a [[slang]] usage, or to indicate words or phrases that are descriptive but unusual, colloquial, folksy, startling, humorous, or metaphoric. They may indicate special terminology that should be identified for accuracy's sake as someone else's, for example if a term (particularly a controversial term) pre-dates the writer or represents the views of someone else.<ref name="Trask1" /> - -Example: - -* Moctezuma II was reported to have had two wives and many concubines, by whom he had a total of 150 children. The king of Texcoco was said to have had more than two thousand "wives" by whom he had had 144 children, 11 born of his chief wife.<ref>{{citation | first1 = Bruce G. | last1 = Trigger | authorlink1 = Bruce G. Trigger | title = Understanding Early Civilizations | publisher = [[Cambridge University Press]] | year = 2003 | location = [[Cambridge]] | page = 178 | url = http://books.google.com/?id=ZEX-yZOAG9IC&printsec=frontcover#PPA179,M1 | isbn = 978-0-521-82245-9 | oclc = 50291226}}</ref> -::<span style="margin-bottom:1em; font-size:smaller">—Bruce G. Trigger, ''Understanding Early Civilizations'' (2003)</span> - -In the above passage the writer uses scare quotes to indicate that the reported two thousand partners of [[Nezahualpilli]], poet-astrologer-king of the Mesoamerican state of [[Texcoco (altepetl)|Texcoco]], should not be understood to have been his wives in the same sense that the word ''wife'' is used elsewhere. - -Some writers prefer italics for this neutral usage, even though italics may easily be mistaken for emphasis. (This has been humorously labeled "scare italics".<ref name="Suck1">{{Citation|url=http://www.suck.com/daily/2000/03/20/1.html|title=The Jawbone of a Scare Quote|work=Suck.com|date=20 March 2000|first=Scott "Slotcar Hatebath"|last=Hamrah}}<!-- This reference should not be used to cite other facts in this article; as a blog, it is not considered a reliable source generally, per [[WP:RS]]. --></ref>) - -Conversely, neutral quotes may indicate that the word or phrase in quotes has changed in meaning since its usage in the specific instance, especially if the word or phrase has gained a controversial or pejorative meaning. - -Example: - -* Billy Joe's story is analyzed in Professor John Howard's history of gays in Mississippi entitled ''Men Like That: A Queer Southern History'' as an [[archetype]] of what Howard calls the "gay suicide myth". - -Howard's use,<ref name="Ref_b">John Howard. Men Like That: A Queer Southern History. ISBN 978-0-226-35470-5.</ref> which refers to the academic meaning of the word ''myth'', is unrelated to the more recent conservative "gay suicide myth" theory that gay teen suicide rates are over-reported so that gay people can claim unrealistic discrimination and obtain special treatment.<ref name="Ref_c">[http://www.traditionalvalues.org/urban/five.php Traditionalvalues.org position on "gay suicide myth"]</ref> - -== Style guidelines == - -Style guides generally recommend the avoidance of scare quotes in impartial works, such as in encyclopedia articles or academic discussion. - -[[The Chicago Manual of Style|Chicago Manual of Style (CMS), 15th edition]]<ref>{{Citation | url = http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/home.html | title = The Chicago Manual of Style Online | accessdate = 2007-11-08}}</ref><ref>{{citation | first1 = Pam | last1 = Peters | authorlink1 = Pam Peters | title = The Cambridge Guide to Australian English Usage | publisher = [[Cambridge University Press]] | year = 2007 | location = [[City of Melbourne|Melbourne]] | page = 670 | url = http://books.google.com/?id=nV8h0gnU1UEC&printsec=frontcover#PRA1-PA670,M1 | isbn = 978-0-521-87821-0 | oclc = 73994040}}</ref> acknowledges this type of use but cautions against overuse in section 7.58: "Quotation marks are often used to alert readers that a term is used in a nonstandard, ironic, or other special sense [...] They imply 'This is not my term' or 'This is not how the term is ''usually'' applied.' Like any such device, scare quotes lose their force and irritate readers if overused." - -== Formatting == - -Scare quotes (and other quotation marks used in a special sense) are usually given in the same style (single or double) as those used elsewhere in a work.<ref name="Butcher4">{{Citation|author=Butcher, J.; Drake, C.; Leach, M.|year=2006|title=Butcher's Copy-Editing: The Cambridge Handbook for Editors, Copy-Editors and Proofreaders|edition=4th|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|location=[[Cambridge, England]]}}</ref> - -== In linguistics == - -Single quotation marks are used in [[linguistics]] to mark a [[gloss (annotation)|gloss]] as separate from either the [[metalanguage]], which is used in the descriptive or theoretical prose, or the [[object language]], which is rendered in [[italics]]. The following sentence illustrates this: - -* The Latin word ''homo'' means '[[man]]'. - -This sentence is about a word in the object language Latin, which appears in italics, and about its counterpart in the gloss language English, enclosed in single quotation marks. The metalanguage, also English, is unaltered. - -== In speech == - -[[File:AirQuotes.jpg|thumb|"[[Air quotes]]" are analogous to scare quotes in print]] - -In spoken conversation, a stand-in for scare quotes is a hand gesture known as ''[[air quotes]]'' or ''finger quotes'', which mimics the appearance of quotation marks. - -A speaker may alternatively say "quote" before and "unquote" after the words that he or she wishes to quote ironically, or say "[[wikt:quote unquote|quote unquote]]" before ''or'' after the quoted words<ref name="John">{{Citation|url=http://www-personal.umich.edu/~jlawler/aue/quote.html |title=Quote, Unquote.|author=John M. Lawler, Prof. Emeritus of Linguistics|publisher=Univ. of Michigan|accessdate=2010-10-09|postscript=}}</ref> or simply pause before and emphasize the parts in quotes. This spoken method is also used for literal and conventional quotes. - -The [[Japanese language]] has a very close spoken (and written) equivalent of scare quotes in the form of the postposition '''[[wikt:って|って]]''' (''tte''). - -== See also == - -* [[Irony punctuation]] -* [[Quotation]] -{{-}} - -== References == -{{Reflist|30em}} - -{{DEFAULTSORT:Scare Quotes}} -[[Category:Punctuation]] -[[Category:Rhetoric]] -[[Category:Doubt]] - -[[fr:Guillemet#Guillemets ironiques]] '
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[ 0 => ''''Scare quotes''' or '''shudder quotes''' are [[quotation mark]]s placed around a word or phrase to imply that it may not signify its apparent meaning or that it is not necessarily the way the quoting person would express its concept. The quotes serve a function similar to verbally prefixing a phrase with "[[wikt:so-called|so-called]]". When referred to as "scare quotes", the quotation marks are suggested to imply skepticism of or disagreement with the quoted terminology.', 1 => '== History ==', 2 => false, 3 => 'Use of the term ''scare quotes'' appears to have arisen at some point during the first half of the 20th century. Occurrence of the term in books appears as early as 1946 in ''Southern California: An Island on the Land'' by Carey McWilliams<ref>{{Citation|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=jcCrQC8rBPgC&pg=PA298|page=298|title=Southern California: An Island on the Land|isbn=9780879050078|author1=McWilliams|first1=Carey|year=1946}}</ref> and in the 1950s in academic literature.<ref>{{citation', 4 => ' | title = [[Mind (journal)|Mind]] | publisher = [[Oxford University Press]] | year = 1956 | location = [[Oxford]] | volume = LXV | page = 3 | issn = 0026-4423 | oclc = 40463594}}</ref><ref>{{citation | title = [[Analysis (journal)|Analysis]] | publisher = [[Basil Blackwell]] | year = 1956 | location = [[Oxford]] | volume = 17 | page = 138 | issn = 0003-2638 | oclc = 49855776}}</ref>', 5 => false, 6 => '== Usage ==', 7 => false, 8 => 'Writers use scare quotes for a variety of reasons. When the enclosed text is a quotation from another source, scare quotes may indicate that the writer does not accept the usage of the phrase (or the phrase itself),<ref>{{citation', 9 => ' | first1 = Raymond W. | last1 = Gibbs', 10 => ' | authorlink1 = | title = The Poetics of Mind | publisher = [[Cambridge University Press]] | year = 1994 | location = [[Cambridge]] | page = 379 | url = http://books.google.com/?id=tTB_n4RrAJYC&printsec=frontcover#PPA379,M1', 11 => ' | isbn = 978-0-521-42992-4 | oclc = 29259099}}</ref> that the writer feels its use is potentially ironic, or that the writer feels it is a misnomer. This meaning may serve to distance the writer from the quoted content.', 12 => false, 13 => 'If scare quotes are enclosing a word or phrase that does not represent a quotation from another source they may simply serve to alert the reader that the word or phrase is used in an unusual, special, or non-standard way or should be understood to include caveats to the conventional meaning.<ref>{{citation | first1 = Jon | last1 = Wheatley | authorlink1 = | title = Prolegomena to Philosophy | publisher = [[Cengage Learning|Wadsworth]] | year = 1970 | location = [[Belmont, California]] | page = 80 | oclc = 83152}}</ref>', 14 => false, 15 => 'Alternatively, material in scare quotes may represent the writer's concise (but possibly misleading) paraphrasing, characterization, or intentional misrepresentation of statements, concepts, or terms used by a third party. This may be an expression of sarcasm or incredulity, or it may also represent a [[rhetoric]]al attempt to frame a discussion in the writer's desired (non-standard) terms (e.g. a [[circumlocution]], an [[apophasis]], or an [[innuendo]]).', 16 => false, 17 => 'The term ''scare quotes'' may be confusing because the word ''scare'' implies provocation, yet the term covers emotionally neutral usage as well. In many cases an author uses scare quotes not to convey alarm, but to signal a [[semantic]] quibble.', 18 => false, 19 => '=== Non-acceptance of terminology ===', 20 => false, 21 => '==== Quotation of another's words ====', 22 => false, 23 => 'Example 1:', 24 => false, 25 => '* The invention of coinage by the Lydians lies really in this innovation, which, however simple it may seem to us now, was then of deep political significance. When once a state currency was instituted, the private coinages fell out of use, for no individual banker could compete with the guarantee of the state, and the state would not tolerate imitation of its own types. We may therefore take it that the successive stages in the "invention" of coinage were somewhat as follows: first, the occasional practice of stamping certain weights of metal with marks by which they could be identified; this probably continued in private use for a long period before it was adopted by a state, perhaps first by Lydia; and finally the adoption all over the Greek world of a series of state coinages. The convenience of the "invention" was so obvious as to justify the statement of Herodotus that the Lydians were the first nation of shopkeepers.''<ref name="British1908">{{Citation | author = British Museum. Dept. of Greek and Roman Antiquities | authorlink = British Museum | title = A Guide to the Exhibition Illustrating Greek and Roman Life | publisher = [[British Museum]] | year = 1908 | url = http://books.google.com/?id=oUJoAAAAMAAJ&printsec=titlepage#PPA14,M1 | accessdate = 2009-07-22}}</ref>', 26 => ':: <span style="margin-bottom:1em; font-size:smaller">—A Guide to the Exhibition Illustrating Greek and Roman Life, [[British Museum]], 1908</span>', 27 => false, 28 => 'In this passage the writer uses scare quotes around the word ''invention'' to express the opinion that [[Herodotus]] is incorrect in ascribing to the [[Lydians]] the role of the inventors of [[coin]]age. The writer does not begin enclosing the word ''invention'' in quotation marks until he begins to express skepticism that its usage was appropriate. In this case, unlike many other applications of scare quotes, the enclosed word is an actual quotation from another source.', 29 => false, 30 => 'Example 2:', 31 => false, 32 => '* ''Kazakhstan's famous "130-year-old"''—Headline on BBC News web site<ref name="Ref_">Demytrie, Rayhan: [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7979599.stm "Kazakhstan's famous '130-year-old'"], ''BBC News'' web site, April 9, 2009.<!-- retrieved April 10, 2009 --></ref>', 33 => false, 34 => 'The quotation marks around ''130-year-old'' indicate that the news source is reporting but not endorsing the claim.', 35 => false, 36 => '==== Other cases ====', 37 => false, 38 => 'Example:', 39 => false, 40 => '* ''"normal" people''', 41 => false, 42 => 'The word ''normal'' denotes that something is proper or not defective. A writer who puts ''normal'' in quotation marks may be insinuating that normal is just a point of reference, that it refers to the average. The writer might be arguing that what is normal is not superior in that situation, or that no person could really be called normal in any meaningful way.', 43 => false, 44 => '=== Negative ===', 45 => false, 46 => 'The effect of using scare quotes is often similar to prepending a skeptical modifier such as ''so-called'' or ''alleged'' to label the quoted word or phrase, to indicate scorn, sarcasm, or irony.<ref name="Trask1">{{Citation|url=http://www.informatics.susx.ac.uk/doc/punctuation/node31.html|title=Scare Quotes|work=University of Sussex Guide to Punctuation|publisher=University of Sussex|first=Larry|last=Trask|authorlink=Larry Trask|year=1997}}</ref> Scare quotes may be used to express disagreement with the original speaker's intended meaning without actually establishing grounds for disagreement or disdain, or without even explicitly acknowledging it. In this type of usage, they are sometimes called "sneer quotes".<ref name="Wisegeek">[http://www.wisegeek.com/what-are-scare-quotes.htm What are Scare Quotes?]</ref>', 47 => false, 48 => 'Examples:', 49 => false, 50 => '* Liberal: ''We've heard about these conservatives and their tax "relief".''', 51 => '* Conservative: ''The liberals have proposed yet another form of "common-sense" gun control.''', 52 => false, 53 => 'Political commentator Jonathan Chait wrote in ''The New Republic'' that "The scare quote is the perfect device for making an insinuation without proving it, or even necessarily making clear what you're insinuating."<ref name="Ref_a">Jonathan Chait, [http://www.tnr.com/article/politics/scared-yet "Scared Yet?], ''The New Republic'', Dec. 31, 2008.</ref>', 54 => false, 55 => 'Taiwan-based reporter Dan Bloom wrote in ''The Taipei Times'' that "Beijing propaganda officials also use a Western punctuation device (so-called 'scare-quotes') to blot out Taiwan's dignity and geopolitical space." In [[China]], scare quotes in state-controlled media (using double [[bracket]] quotes as the Chinese equivalent of quotation marks) are often used to belittle the reality of rival nation Taiwan by putting the names of Taiwan's leaders and government bodies in double bracket quote marks.<ref>Dan Bloom, [http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/archives/2012/08/29/2003541438 "Scare quotes blot out Taiwan", ''Taipei Times'', Aug. 29, 2012.]</ref>', 56 => false, 57 => 'Bloom also wrote an editorial-page article in the ''China Post'' headlined "'Scare quotes' having a 'field day' in the 'media'", in which he said that "in the long run-up to the American presidential election this coming November 2012, an epidemic of so-called 'scare quotes' is turning political punditry and commentary into what might be called 'a punctuation epidemic'." His article also said that "when someone on the left or right doesn't like the language of the opposing side, the writer often put the words in scare quotes, to signal to the reader that he or she is of a very different opinion, and as a result, nothing gets resolved and only more confusion and noise results."<ref>Dan Bloom, [http://www.chinapost.com.tw/commentary/the-china-post/special-to-the-china-post/2012/09/09/353692/Scare-quotes.htm "'Scare quotes' having a 'field day' in the 'media'"], ''China Post'', Sept. 9, 2012.</ref>', 58 => false, 59 => '=== Neutral distancing ===', 60 => false, 61 => 'Enclosing a word or phrase in quotes can also convey a neutral attitude on the part of the writer, while distancing the writer from the terminology in question. The quotes are used to call attention to a [[neologism]], special terminology ([[jargon]]), or a [[slang]] usage, or to indicate words or phrases that are descriptive but unusual, colloquial, folksy, startling, humorous, or metaphoric. They may indicate special terminology that should be identified for accuracy's sake as someone else's, for example if a term (particularly a controversial term) pre-dates the writer or represents the views of someone else.<ref name="Trask1" />', 62 => false, 63 => 'Example:', 64 => false, 65 => '* Moctezuma II was reported to have had two wives and many concubines, by whom he had a total of 150 children. The king of Texcoco was said to have had more than two thousand "wives" by whom he had had 144 children, 11 born of his chief wife.<ref>{{citation | first1 = Bruce G. | last1 = Trigger | authorlink1 = Bruce G. Trigger | title = Understanding Early Civilizations | publisher = [[Cambridge University Press]] | year = 2003 | location = [[Cambridge]] | page = 178 | url = http://books.google.com/?id=ZEX-yZOAG9IC&printsec=frontcover#PPA179,M1 | isbn = 978-0-521-82245-9 | oclc = 50291226}}</ref>', 66 => '::<span style="margin-bottom:1em; font-size:smaller">—Bruce G. Trigger, ''Understanding Early Civilizations'' (2003)</span>', 67 => false, 68 => 'In the above passage the writer uses scare quotes to indicate that the reported two thousand partners of [[Nezahualpilli]], poet-astrologer-king of the Mesoamerican state of [[Texcoco (altepetl)|Texcoco]], should not be understood to have been his wives in the same sense that the word ''wife'' is used elsewhere.', 69 => false, 70 => 'Some writers prefer italics for this neutral usage, even though italics may easily be mistaken for emphasis. (This has been humorously labeled "scare italics".<ref name="Suck1">{{Citation|url=http://www.suck.com/daily/2000/03/20/1.html|title=The Jawbone of a Scare Quote|work=Suck.com|date=20 March 2000|first=Scott "Slotcar Hatebath"|last=Hamrah}}<!-- This reference should not be used to cite other facts in this article; as a blog, it is not considered a reliable source generally, per [[WP:RS]]. --></ref>)', 71 => false, 72 => 'Conversely, neutral quotes may indicate that the word or phrase in quotes has changed in meaning since its usage in the specific instance, especially if the word or phrase has gained a controversial or pejorative meaning.', 73 => false, 74 => 'Example:', 75 => false, 76 => '* Billy Joe's story is analyzed in Professor John Howard's history of gays in Mississippi entitled ''Men Like That: A Queer Southern History'' as an [[archetype]] of what Howard calls the "gay suicide myth".', 77 => false, 78 => 'Howard's use,<ref name="Ref_b">John Howard. Men Like That: A Queer Southern History. ISBN 978-0-226-35470-5.</ref> which refers to the academic meaning of the word ''myth'', is unrelated to the more recent conservative "gay suicide myth" theory that gay teen suicide rates are over-reported so that gay people can claim unrealistic discrimination and obtain special treatment.<ref name="Ref_c">[http://www.traditionalvalues.org/urban/five.php Traditionalvalues.org position on "gay suicide myth"]</ref>', 79 => false, 80 => '== Style guidelines ==', 81 => false, 82 => 'Style guides generally recommend the avoidance of scare quotes in impartial works, such as in encyclopedia articles or academic discussion.', 83 => false, 84 => '[[The Chicago Manual of Style|Chicago Manual of Style (CMS), 15th edition]]<ref>{{Citation | url = http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/home.html | title = The Chicago Manual of Style Online | accessdate = 2007-11-08}}</ref><ref>{{citation | first1 = Pam | last1 = Peters | authorlink1 = Pam Peters | title = The Cambridge Guide to Australian English Usage | publisher = [[Cambridge University Press]] | year = 2007 | location = [[City of Melbourne|Melbourne]] | page = 670 | url = http://books.google.com/?id=nV8h0gnU1UEC&printsec=frontcover#PRA1-PA670,M1 | isbn = 978-0-521-87821-0 | oclc = 73994040}}</ref> acknowledges this type of use but cautions against overuse in section 7.58: "Quotation marks are often used to alert readers that a term is used in a nonstandard, ironic, or other special sense [...] They imply 'This is not my term' or 'This is not how the term is ''usually'' applied.' Like any such device, scare quotes lose their force and irritate readers if overused."', 85 => false, 86 => '== Formatting ==', 87 => false, 88 => 'Scare quotes (and other quotation marks used in a special sense) are usually given in the same style (single or double) as those used elsewhere in a work.<ref name="Butcher4">{{Citation|author=Butcher, J.; Drake, C.; Leach, M.|year=2006|title=Butcher's Copy-Editing: The Cambridge Handbook for Editors, Copy-Editors and Proofreaders|edition=4th|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|location=[[Cambridge, England]]}}</ref>', 89 => false, 90 => '== In linguistics ==', 91 => false, 92 => 'Single quotation marks are used in [[linguistics]] to mark a [[gloss (annotation)|gloss]] as separate from either the [[metalanguage]], which is used in the descriptive or theoretical prose, or the [[object language]], which is rendered in [[italics]]. The following sentence illustrates this:', 93 => false, 94 => '* The Latin word ''homo'' means '[[man]]'.', 95 => false, 96 => 'This sentence is about a word in the object language Latin, which appears in italics, and about its counterpart in the gloss language English, enclosed in single quotation marks. The metalanguage, also English, is unaltered.', 97 => false, 98 => '== In speech ==', 99 => false, 100 => '[[File:AirQuotes.jpg|thumb|"[[Air quotes]]" are analogous to scare quotes in print]]', 101 => false, 102 => 'In spoken conversation, a stand-in for scare quotes is a hand gesture known as ''[[air quotes]]'' or ''finger quotes'', which mimics the appearance of quotation marks.', 103 => false, 104 => 'A speaker may alternatively say "quote" before and "unquote" after the words that he or she wishes to quote ironically, or say "[[wikt:quote unquote|quote unquote]]" before ''or'' after the quoted words<ref name="John">{{Citation|url=http://www-personal.umich.edu/~jlawler/aue/quote.html |title=Quote, Unquote.|author=John M. Lawler, Prof. Emeritus of Linguistics|publisher=Univ. of Michigan|accessdate=2010-10-09|postscript=}}</ref> or simply pause before and emphasize the parts in quotes. This spoken method is also used for literal and conventional quotes.', 105 => false, 106 => 'The [[Japanese language]] has a very close spoken (and written) equivalent of scare quotes in the form of the postposition '''[[wikt:って|って]]''' (''tte'').', 107 => false, 108 => '== See also ==', 109 => false, 110 => '* [[Irony punctuation]]', 111 => '* [[Quotation]]', 112 => '{{-}}', 113 => false, 114 => '== References ==', 115 => '{{Reflist|30em}}', 116 => false, 117 => '{{DEFAULTSORT:Scare Quotes}}', 118 => '[[Category:Punctuation]]', 119 => '[[Category:Rhetoric]]', 120 => '[[Category:Doubt]]', 121 => false, 122 => '[[fr:Guillemet#Guillemets ironiques]]' ]
Whether or not the change was made through a Tor exit node (tor_exit_node)
0
Unix timestamp of change (timestamp)
1416728703