Revised as of
19 Mar 2023
Oh man, this so cracks me up!! Please, everybody, do spread the word — quotes are used to indicate that something is ironic, sarcastic, or slang. They are not used to emphasize. Unless of course you are trying to emphasize the sarcasm!
Yep, I’m on a “diet”.
No, honey, those pants “don’t” make your butt look big.
Yeah, you’re good for “something” all right.
My pit bull is named “Mercy”.
George is “excited” about going shopping with you.
No, he’s “teasing” Willy.
That’s “beautiful”.
Oh, no, “of course” they didn’t do it.
No, please, I really “want to watch” World Wrestling Federation with you.
The politicians are trying to “save face” now that they got caught.
The Properly Punctuated explores . . .
. . . the proper use of quotation marks, commas, semicolons, colons, ellipsis, etc., including how to properly mark dialog, ahem. As Properly Punctuated is in no way complete, I would appreciate suggestions and comments from anyone on punctuation with which you struggle or on which you can contribute more understanding.
If you found this post on “The Silent Comedian, or When Quotes = Sarcasm” interesting, consider subscribing to KD Did It, if you’d like to track this post for future updates.
| Sarcasm, (“_”) | |
| Punctuation: Formatting: “_” | |
| General Rule: Double quotes are used to indicate sarcasm, irony, or slang.
They are not used to emphasize. A.k.a. scare quotes |
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My first reaction when I see the “‘Cheese’ Burgers” sign is to wonder just what they are putting on them burgers. Can’t be cheese if they’re putting quotes around it . . . eeeek. |
The “‘Cheese’ Burgers” is courtesy of The Chive. |
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Then there’s the “Beware of ‘Dog'” sign. Hmmm, maybe it’s a cat? No, wait, it is a dog, but the dog is sooo ugly that no one will believe it’s a dog. Wait, wait, no, it’s a . . . |
The “Beware of ‘Dog'” is courtesy of Vappingo.com. |
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Okay, this sign is a double whammy. They need to put up a sign for the ONE employee. And just why are there quotes around “wash hands”? Does he have paws? No, wait . . . I know what it is. The employee must wash hands, but those hands don’t have to be their own hands. Or, maybe this sign is simply to fulfill health code requirements and it’s one of those nudge-nudge-wink-winks, and they don’t care if the employee doesn’t wash his/her hands?? Ick . . . |
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Nothing like getting a warning that the security ain’t much. |
The “security guard” sign is part of a slideshow “Creepy Quotations” and is courtesy of Mashable. |
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“Eggs”, huh? “Brown” eggs. Maybe they live next door to the “dog” . . . |
This image is courtesy of Wantist from their book on unnecessary quotes. |
C’mon, get it out of your system, bitch, whine, moan . . . which words are your pet peeves? Also, please note that I try to be as accurate as I can, but mistakes happen or I miss something. Email me if you find errors, so I can fix them . . . and we’ll all benefit!
Satisfy your curiosity about other Properly Punctuated posts on its homepage or more generally explore the index of self-editing posts. You may also want to explore Book Layout & Formatting Ideas, Formatting Tips, Grammar Explanations, Linguistics, Publishing Tips, Word Confusions, Writing Ideas and Resources, and Working Your Website.
Pinterest Photo Credits
Condescending, <https://visualhunt.com/f2/photo/37532494714/1fe416dd76/>, by FolsomNatural, <https://visualhunt.com/author/1dc96d>, is under the CC BY 2.0 license, via VisualHunt.
