Entry 011: How "not" to use scare quotes (Rules Project)

When I was in the fourth or fifth grade, I began to spend summers off from school at my own house.  The other neighborhood kids did the same -- everyone free from school, free to play outside, free to do whatever we wanted to do, at least during the day.

That is, except for my chore list.  My parents had always kept a family chore list, which enumerated exactly which tasks -- feeding to dog, bringing in the mail, doing the dishes, folding laundry -- belonged to whom.

In the summer, my parents took it upon themselves to award extra tasks to me and my brother.  These tasks had a bit more of a process to them -- washing the kitchen floor, for example, is one that I remembered reading with dread.  Just how did one do that!?

One grammatical aspect of the chore list that I still remember is my father's use of scare quotes.  Whenever he wanted to call attention to one part of the chore list, or to part of the directions for one of the tasks, he used scared quotes, in the way that some people might use an underline, or write a word in all capital letters.

Wash the floor.  Do "not" forget soap, he might write.  Or,

Mow the lawn.  Be careful of the front bushes.  "Go slow."

A simple google search reveals a host of examples of scare quotes used to call attention to one aspect of a phrase or message: 

However, this use of scare quotes is incorrect!  In the third picture, a well-meaning (?) grammar master has pointed out to all who might read the sign:  Please do not use quotation marks for emphasis.

Scare quotes, as Larry Trask explains in his thorough website* on the topic, are quotation marks "placed around a word or phrase from which you, the writer, wish to distance yourself because you consider that word or phrase to be odd or inappropriate for some reason."

There are numerous instances when it would be appropriate to use a scare quote.

A few weeks ago, it reached into the 90s here in Rochester, New York.  A friend might relay something they overheard to me from someone on the bus in this way:  The person sitting behind me told the person on the phone that it was a bit "warm" here today.  As if!  Here, the speaker wishes to imply that "warm" is not at all an appropriate word to describe the oppressive heat that plagued the city for a week.

Or, a mother might recount to a friend that she caught her son wrapping a chair up with several rolls of toilet paper, so that he could "clean" it, by his account. Here, the mother wants to make clear that she herself understands that there is no valid reason for wrapping a chair up in rolls of toilet paper, but that she still wanted to provide her child's reasoning to her friends.

I tried searching the Internet for correct images of people using scare quotes in signs, and it was surprisingly difficult.  It seems like it is much more enjoyable to catalog examples of mistakes.  I did find this image, which was taken from a graphic novel:

Though not a sign, this is a great example of the correct way to use a scare quote.  The police officer here wishes to imply that something is suspect, or fishy, about the scene, and that there is more to the story of this man's present condition than a simple murder.

So concludes my Rules Project.  I hope you enjoyed reading my blog -- perhaps you will soon find some grammar mistakes of your own while out walking or driving!



*http://www.sussex.ac.uk/informatics/punctuation/quotes/scare