Scare quotes
Scare quotes is a term for a particular use of quotation marks. In this application the text enclosed by the quotation marks is a single word or a single phrase. Scare quotes indicate to the reader that the word or phrase does not signify its literal or conventional meaning but should be interpreted with one of the alternative meanings described below. In contravention of the nominal typographic purpose of quotation marks, the enclosed words may or may not be quoted from another source.
When communicating face-to-face, an approximation of scare quotes is a hand gesture known as air quotes or finger quotes, which mimics the appearance of quotation marks. The person may also say, "quote...unquote" for the word in scare quotes.[1]
History
Use of the term "scare quotes" appears to have arisen at some point during the first half of the twentieth century. Occurrence in academic literature appears as early as the 1950s.[2][3]
Usage
There are a variety of differing intents that may be behind a writer's usage of scare quotes. When the enclosed word or phrase represents a quotation from another source they indicate that the writer does not accept the term or does not entirely accept the term,[4] expressing skepticism that its use is appropriate, suggesting that its use is potentially ironic, or making some other criticism of its use. This meaning may serve to distance the writer from the quoted words and indicate that they are someone else's terminology or to otherwise implicitly disavow them. Or it may represent a simple assertion that the word or term is a misnomer.
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.[5]
Alternatively material in scare quotes may represent the writer's concise (but possibly misleading) paraphrasing, characterization, or intentional renaming of statements, concepts, or terms used by a third party. This may be an expression of sarcasm or incredulity. Or it may be a rhetorical technique attempting to frame a discussion in the writer's desired terms: a circumlocution or a means of apophasis or innuendo.
The term "scare quotes" may be confusing because, as noted above, it has a wide variety of applications and does not always connote an intent or attempt to frighten as the word "scare" would seem to indicate. In many cases an author describes his or her own use of quotation marks as scare quotes and provides notes regarding the context and intended meaning within a work. (Ironically, this means that because scare quotes is itself a misnomer it would represent a consistent usage to enclose the term in scare quotes to express this.)
Non-acceptance of terminology
Quotation of another's words
Example:
- 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. — A Guide to the Exhibition Illustrating Greek and Roman Life, British Museum, 1908
In this passage the writer uses scare quotes around "invention" to express the opinion that Herodotus is incorrect in ascribing to the Lydians the role of the inventors of coinage. Note that 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.
Other cases
Example:
- "normal" people
A writer may choose to use scare quotes because the enclosed word is part of common phrase (such as creation "science") and the writer disapproves of the term. A writer who uses creation "science" is suggesting that creationism is pseudoscience. A writer may put the word normal in quotation marks because of its connotations. Normal carries the connotation that something is proper or not defective. A writer who puts normal in quotation marks insinuates that normal is just a point of reference, that it refers to deviation from the average. The writer might be showing that what is normal is not superior in that situation.
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.[6] 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.
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.
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.[6] A special case of this use of quotes is in the use–mention distinction.
Examples:
- Dawkins called his concept of the evolving idea the "meme".
- Dawkins' concept of the meme could be described as an "evolving idea".
Some writers prefer italics for this neutral usage, even though italics may easily be mistaken for emphasis. (This has been humorously labeled scare italics.[7])
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,[8] 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 gays can claim unrealistic discrimination and obtain special treatment[9].)
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 (CMS), 15th edition[10][11] 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.[12]
In linguistics
Single quotation marks are used in linguistics to mark a gloss in the meta language. This differs from words in the object language, which are 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 its meaning in the meta language English, enclosed in single quotation marks.
See also
References
- ^ "Quote, Unquote."
- ^ Mind, vol. LXV, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1956, p. 3, ISSN 0026-4423, OCLC 40463594
- ^ Analysis, vol. 17, Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1956, p. 138, ISSN 0003-2638, OCLC 49855776
- ^ Gibbs, Raymond W. (1994), The Poetics of Mind, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 379, ISBN 9780521429924, OCLC 29259099
- ^ Wheatley, Jon (1970), Prolegomena to Philosophy, Belmont, California: Wadsworth, p. 80, OCLC 83152
- ^ a b Trask, Larry (1997). "Scare Quotes". University of Sussex Guide to Punctuation. University of Sussex.
- ^ Hamrah, Scott "Slotcar Hatebath" (20 March 2000). "The Jawbone of a Scare Quote". Suck.com.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ John Howard. Men Like That: A Queer Southern History. ISBN 978-0226354705.
- ^ [1] Traditionalvalues.org position on "gay suicide myth"
- ^ "The Chicago Manual of Style Online". Retrieved 2007-11-08.
- ^ Peters, Pam (2007), The Cambridge Guide to Australian English Usage, Melbourne: Cambridge University Press, p. 670, ISBN 9780521878210, OCLC 73994040
- ^ Butcher, J.; Drake, C.; Leach, M. (2006). Butcher's Copy-Editing: The Cambridge Handbook for Editors, Copy-Editors and Proofreaders (4th ed ed.). Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
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