Spyke
lemmy.world

It's "quote unquote something" because most people who "quote something often forget to unquote afterwards.

128

If you are quoting a word or short phrase you use this form to make it quicker and easier for the listener to understand.

If you quote a long section, saying "quote, , unquote." is common and accepted.

47
lemmy.world

Yeah—I think the canonical usage is to hold up your fingers as you say “quote unquote”, then lower your hands when the quote is complete.

10
swab148reply
lemm.ee

One hand for quote, the other for unquote

3

If anyone did this in front of me I would smack them in the mouth.

2
lemm.ee

They are just doing the autocomplete verbally, like when you type an opening quote and the end quote goes in automatically but the next thing you type goes inside the quotes

26
sh.itjust.works

Wait, it's "quote unquote"? I have always been saying "quote on quote" my whole life.

22
reddthat.com

this is one of those things that I have wondered about for so long that I forgot to wonder about it

11

I’ve heard it said both ways.

For example.

When the statement you’re quoting is going to be quote, short or simple, unquote.

Or, if it’s going to stand on its own and be quote, unquote, some long citation that would make famous Russian authors jealous.

10

Indeed. With very slowly pronounced “bunny ear finger quotes” as you say it to emphasize the sarcasm.

3

Because "quote unquote" is done for a laugh typically and "quote unquote" sounds funnier and more pleasing to the ear.

9

Unrelated but until a month ago I've been saying "quote ON quote" until I saw it actually written 😂🤣

8
modifierreply
lemmy.ca

As a homeschooled kid, I usually had the opposite problem. Mispronounced so much shit.

2

Professors and engineers, in my experience, tend to say "quote... the thing... end quote". Regular people on the other hand, are lazy, inconsistent and generally oblivious to whether or not they're being ambiguous.

8
SatyrSackreply
feddit.org

Regular people on the other hand, are lazy, inconsistent and generally oblivious to whether or not they're being ambiguous.

me_irl

4

I think because one gets the point across easily while the other is pedantic

1
lemmy.world

Tangential, but I don't understand why in American English you feel the need to say the word quote at all. In UK English we just use intenation.

0

It's useful for when you're quoting someone who happens to use the exact same intonation as you!

5

I'm from the UK and I feel like I've heard enough UK English speakers saying "quote" that I had never thought of it as an American thing. That isn't to say that the distinction you make doesn't exist though, just that it may be variable across demographics or contexts.

3

Because it would be pretty silly to verbally say "quote" "the thing" and them finish of with "unquote" at the end, like some kind of robot.

The whole point of saying it is to clarify that you're quoting something.

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You reached the end