Now I’m Really Scared

11.5.2008 by Christian

When you use scare quotes (” “) in reference to somebody else’s improper use of scare quotes, should you use single scare quotes (’ ‘ or maybe “‘ ‘”)?

How would that look in face to face conversation (where scare quotes are most often used and abused)?

2 Responses to “Now I’m Really Scared”

  1. Chad Says:

    Maybe neither. You should just parenthetically add something like: (authors’ scare quotes), much like you do when you quote someone whose original words were in italics.

  2. Christian Says:

    Chad, the post in general was supposed to be humorous.

    But if you want to get technical, in my question you aren’t quoting somebody else, you are scare quoting their scare quoting. Completely different than just referencing or citing their scare quoting.

    Plus, you didn’t answer how that would look in person (i.e. in conversation). I’ll edit my post to clarify what I mean by “in person.”

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