Rachelle Lipschultz wrote:
> My personal favorite.....putting quotation marks around "random" words.
Example: The "boy" and his "sister" were playing "catch."
> Ummmm....do I want to know what they were *really* doing?!?
>
> And by the way, it's not just my students who are guilty of this--my local
supermarket is as well. I've seen them advertise both "fresh" lettuce
> and fresh "lettuce," not to mention a notice saying they were hiring
"cashiers" to work the "back counter" on the night shift!
This doesn't seem generally to be the case here, but often the problem
is that the writer believes that quotation marks can be used for emphasis
(like uppercase letters or bold print or bright colors). I imagine that's
what the author of the "fresh lettuce" signs was thinking. I've often seen
Big "Sale" Today
and I point out to my students that to an educated person, that means "We're
not really having a sale today".
It's terribly sad that professional sign-makers make these mistakes
(along with all of those misplaced possessive apostrophes where there should
be a simple plural 's').
Paul Smith
Alverno College
Milwaukee
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