Comments on: Single link silliness.

Single link silliness.

pedstel — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 22:25:39 -0800

The "best" of the internet.

By: Manhasset

Manhasset — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 22:27:31 -0800

Nice post. "I" like it.

By: Blazecock Pileon

Blazecock Pileon — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 22:29:00 -0800

"Flagged" as "awesome".

By: mayfly wake

mayfly wake — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 22:29:53 -0800

Thanks mom "for life" literally made me spew my beverage all over the monitor. I thought that was hyperbole. It can happen.

By: the_bone

the_bone — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 22:41:45 -0800

"Great post."

By: pyramid termite

pyramid termite — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 22:44:07 -0800

"no, i'm ahead of you there - it's "quotation marks" all the way down"

By: mayfly wake

mayfly wake — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 22:48:18 -0800

there's got to be a grammatical term for that sentence.

By: Space Kitty

Space Kitty — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 22:53:18 -0800

That's "hilarious."

By: Uppity Pigeon #2

Uppity Pigeon #2 — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 23:02:00 -0800

Pretty Good Grocery is a shitty name, even without the quotation marks. And the way the grocer seems to be shrugging in either apathy or apology isn't helping.

By: blasdelf

blasdelf — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 23:05:13 -0800

please

By: mattoxic

mattoxic — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 23:05:45 -0800

Tom saw this on Isle of Wight (which I had to look up).... That's "embarrassing" for him

By: mexican

mexican — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 23:10:10 -0800

This kind of thing is all over "English" language advertisements in "Japan". Has anyone seen an example of a text book that shows quotation marks as a substitute for other emphasis marks like bold type face or underlines? Is there a source for this style other than stupid people?

By: bunglin jones

bunglin jones — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 23:10:53 -0800

Pretty Good Grocery is a shitty name, even without the quotation marks Isn't the name from some folksy radio show or something?

By: brundlefly

brundlefly — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 23:12:10 -0800

I worked at a cafe for a guy who misused quotation marks constantly. In response to him, I added "Fresh 'Squeezed' Orange Juice" to the big menu on the wall. That was several years ago, and it was still up last time I checked.

By: sluglicker

sluglicker — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 23:18:43 -0800

Even if he can't find his "dog", it's still a funny story. Allison and Bert aren't the only ones who stepped over the threshold unencumbered, but that didn't stop Flem! Oh, no it didn't! My favorite was the confit de canard, and though still a bit salty, cheese flowed freely enough.

By: adamt

adamt — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 23:21:21 -0800

Oh dear. I'm really laughing to hard to come up with a witty use of quotes of my own. Very good.

By: amyms

amyms — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 23:24:42 -0800

My husband's great-aunt used to send him letters and whenever she mentioned me, she'd put my name in quotation marks: How's "Amy" doing?, Tell "Amy" I said Hi, Give "Amy" my best. She was a nice lady and I'm sure she meant no harm, but it nearly drove me insane.

By: _dario

_dario — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 23:29:32 -0800

I'm setting a magazine right now. If I could strip all "unnecessary" quotations "marks", it'd be a couple pages shorter (cringe).

By: adamt

adamt — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 23:30:43 -0800

Doh. I could have just used "witty". Bugger.

By: not_on_display

not_on_display — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 23:33:11 -0800

I "hate" to be the one to call "double". But "it" was nested in another FP"P" so it's "OK by me." (suppressing urge to use blink-tag)

By: not_on_display

not_on_display — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 23:38:45 -0800

By: heyho

heyho — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 23:46:55 -0800

What is a pig buckle? Fun post. "Thanks."

By: flapjax at midnite

flapjax at midnite — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 00:05:43 -0800

Oh man, the misuse of quotation marks in English signs, labels and advertising here in Japan is rampant. Maybe I should start a blog about that.

By: flapjax at midnite

flapjax at midnite — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 00:08:15 -0800

Ah, should've read the comments more carefully, as I see mexican already pointed out the Japan thing upthread.

By: camdan

camdan — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 00:29:16 -0800

bunglin jones - ralph's pretty good grocery is a fictional sponsor on garrison keillor's a prarie home companion. their motto is: "if you "can't" get "it" at ralph's, you can "probably" get along "without" it". (additional quotes added for emphasis)

By: From Bklyn

From Bklyn — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 00:45:20 -0800

"Nice" post. "Really."

By: Jofus

Jofus — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 00:57:36 -0800

Mine seem a little ,,loose,,

By: bunglin jones

bunglin jones — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 01:32:31 -0800

Thanks, camdan.

By: gmm

gmm — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 02:08:55 -0800

I am wondering... some of those pictures aren't totally misses to me. I can see why they put words in marks. Isn't quotation marks, per definition, marks that announce the text within being a QUOTE? Which means, writing: - The "best" food in town. - Is a way to indicate that someone says the food is the best in town. I know that most of us would think "best" in quotes means best-but-not-meaning-best, but still, it is not wrong. When/how did quotation marks stop being quotation marks and start being irony marks?

By: fearfulsymmetry

fearfulsymmetry — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 02:18:17 -0800

I'm reading this doing "air quotes"

By: DU

DU — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 04:48:41 -0800

"Pretty Good" Grocery isn't misusing quotes. Or isn't necessarily doing so. Pretty Good Grocery: A grocery store that's pretty good. "Pretty Good" Grocery: A grocery store that has playfully downplayed themselves by using a phrase their customers use to describe it. It's the "That 70s Show" of grocery stores. (Bedford's "Special Places" isn't a misuse either, if "Special Places" is some term they are referring to. I'd like to see a blog like this run by a professional punctuationist.)

By: aftermarketradio

aftermarketradio — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 05:59:36 -0800

I wish people would use fewer quotation marks and more air guitar solos to get their points across.

By: caution live frogs

caution live frogs — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 06:15:34 -0800

gmm writes "Isn't quotation marks, per definition, marks that announce the text within being a QUOTE?" Your example might work if it was more like: "The best food in town" -Local Newspaper But without any attribution, and only a single word quoted, well, it becomes irony. The basic misunderstanding of whether or not this construct is correct is the root of the problem, and the reason there is a proliferation of poorly abused quotation marks and apostrophes.

By: caution live frogs

caution live frogs — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 06:16:03 -0800

The again, I could be "wrong".

By: pyramid termite

pyramid termite — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 07:19:41 -0800

the best "food" in town

By: colinmarshall

colinmarshall — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 10:35:36 -0800

It's "blogs" like this that make me "love" the "internets".

By: BitterOldPunk

BitterOldPunk — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 10:36:19 -0800

I didn't see a problem with:

Great Dishcloths "Nice gift"

The quoted part is simply an unattributed comment made by a (deluded, cheap-ass, unwelcome at parties) purchaser of a Great Dishcloth.

By: LordSludge

LordSludge — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 11:24:53 -0800

Given a few more years of misusage, the quotation mark *will* become a standard, correct way to indicate emphasis. ...just like asterisks. ::cough:: (Double-colons have always been okay.)

By: crapmatic

crapmatic — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 11:51:15 -0800

"Yes" we have "pig" "buckles" requires some kind of sentence diagram to assess irony, as I can't figure it out.

By: Richard Daly

Richard Daly — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 12:33:53 -0800

I was told that the use of quotations for emphasis was a British thing. Any truth to this?

By: Smedleyman

Smedleyman — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 13:35:00 -0800

I saw a vaguely shaped...item... in an opaque wrapper in a vending machine out in Oswego, Il at a gas station that said: AA02 "hamburger sandwich" I still get the chills. (Oh and "Bob" Dobbs. I'm "mad" too. etc.)

By: swift

swift — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 14:42:19 -0800

"."

By: abulafa

abulafa — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 17:07:21 -0800

Theory: grocers' quotes may have originated as a means to link either word-of-mouth or radio advertising to products, such as Shoes Shined "while you wait" May have begun its life as a catchphrase or jingle and lived on in the saturation marketing of the sandwichboard. Perhaps by imitating the structure other vendors hoped to split the market and the meme was too powerful a mechanism which gave a "voice" to what was otherwise just sign text. Demonstrating evidence for this theory is beyond the scope of my attention span, though.

By: kcds

kcds — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 17:41:00 -0800

Zagat's restaurant guide books feature sentences composed out of fragments of their contributors' reviews, eg:

Werbenjaegermanjensen's Seafood features the "best locally sourced seafood" at a "price that's hard to beat" with "outstanding views of the municipal dump" and has an "outstanding wine list" with "many fine examplars" of "Welsh claret" and "peppermint-flavored" Burgundies.

So, you know, there's that.

By: samsara

samsara — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 19:59:23 -0800

"Just" here inverting the rest of the quotes"