Ok, ok…technically, they call it a “gallery,” but that title serves to illustrate a point. And for the “quotationally challenged” of you out there (and you know who you are…or may not, actually…) that point may be worth making.
If you’d just like to take a look, hop over to The Gallery of “Misused” Quotation Marks, and have at it.
If you’re wondering what all the fuss is about, notice: besides using quotation marks to indicate the fact that someone is speaking. We also often use quotation marks to indicate that something fishy is going on. In the title of this post, for instance, the quotation marks around the word “museum” indicate that, well, it’s not a real, physical museum, but more of a museum-like web site. We’re not to take the “museum” literally.
The confusion (and unintended hilarity, sometimes) comes when someone decides to use quotation marks to emphasize a word, instead of using italics, underlining, or some other method.
Since most folks are used to reading these quotation marks as markers of something ironic or not literal, things can get silly. For instance, a hand-painted sign I saw around here several years ago:
“Quilts” for sale
Hmm…really? So it’s what? More of a handkerchief? Some towels sewn together? Not sure I’m really interested… 😛
You see where this goes.
Go check out the museum then, and vow that you will never, ever use quotation marks for “emphasis.” 😉
For a quick quotation mark primer, you might see this Wikipedia page.