On 07 Jul, 2004, at 07:16 AM, dhbailey wrote:
Darcy James Argue wrote:
I don't think "scare quotes" is a pejorative. It's just shorthand for the usage you describe (i.e., "I'm using your term but I don't really agree with your usage").
You have to admit, it's useful to have a succinct term for that.
- Darcy
But that flies in the face of the usage among today's youth, where putting a word in quotes (physically gesturing with both hands to indicate quotation marks) is often done for emphasis and not in a "I'm using this word but I don't agree with it" sense.
Uh, no. You just adapted the definition of "scare quotes" -- i.e., the use of quotation marks to indicate that it is
not the author's preferred terminology -- for speech, where the gesture you describe is usually called "air quotes." But nothing is flying the face of anything here.
And sometimes those quotes are used to indicate that the person typing (or speaking) is uncomfortable with that usage but realizes it is common usage,
Er, yes -- that's what everyone's been saying for the past several posts.
and isn't trying to "scare" anybody by using quotation marks.
Nobody ever said anything about literally scaring people.
- Darcy
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