One of the more annoying eccentricities I see in writing these days is an excessive need to put random content in quotes. This morning I saw one of the more irritating examples in a while, where someone had written on his profile:
Lately I’ve been getting into “photography”.
So, what, he’s been using a camera, but not taking photos? Or he takes the photos and immediately deletes them? Or maybe he just holds his hands up in a vaguely box shape, thrusts down one of his fingers, and says “Click <whirr>”?
Unnecessary quotes are a real pet peeve of mine – to the point that I have to avoid going to ‘The “Blog” of “Unnecessary” Quotation Marks‘, not because it’s inaccurate, but because it highlights so much stupidity that it’s actually somewhat irritating to look through. If you want some humour though, and mis-used quotation marks don’t grate on you quite as much as they do on me, you should check it out.
Meanwhile, I’ll go back to sighing loudly and rolling my eyes every time someone inappropriately puts something in quotation marks.
No related posts.
Billy Connolly does a great routine on how much he hates people who do quote marks in the air. Have you seen it?
I haven’t seen it, but I could well imagine how … forthright … he’d be