That's right "folks," this is "a" serious issue that "is" sweeping the "nation" and you need to "know" how to protect yourself from "this" terrible disease.
But seriously guys, the fact that incorrect usage of quotation marks is something that is happening all over the place just doesn't make sense. This phenomenon is when quotation marks are put around a word or phrase where they are just not needed and end up changing the entire message. Hopefully everyone already knows that quotation marks are most often used when quoting the words of someone or something, but that's not what the problem is. The real problem stems from air quotes, where the quotation marks are used for irony and sarcasm. When you put quotes around something for this reason, it is because you actually intend the opposite of what the word or phrase means. Ex: That birthday gift looks really "expensive." As you can see, misusing air quotes can lead to some very problematic, and hilarious, signs.
The closest explanation for all this is that people do it because they confuse quotation marks with underlining, though there are ones that just seem like the person threw on quotations marks until he liked the way it looked. They are emphasizing the word in the wrong way and completely changing the meaning of the sentence or just making it plain confusing. So be wary! Think about what it is your saying and if there is any reason at all for a quotation mark or "you" might be making a huge mistake. (See!)
2 comments:
Your first sentence was hilarious to me. I was really curious about this so i looked up the caption of the picture and it said
"I guess if they put it in quotations then the atheists won't get offended"
This sign seems quite offending for some. It's like saying only some people believe in God. Never have i seen other gods being placed in quotation marks simply because it IS their names.
I don't see anything wrong with it. Maybe they're referencing the bible so as not to offend any Christians who take their religion more seriously than others. Besides, people have done so much worse than this. I'v had some people text me with the beginning of a word, an acronym in the middle, and then the ending of the word, or an entire paragraph of acronyms. And there are so many slogans out there that use words phonetically for marketing reasons as well. Besides, "Thank God" is a common phrase people use, and I really don't see the harm in this sign.
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