scare quote

English

WOTD – 5 July 2011

Alternative forms

• scare-quote

Etymology

Coined by British analytic philosopher G. E. M. Anscombe in 1956 in her essay “Aristotle and the Sea Battle”. Originally spelt with a hyphen as scare-quotes.

This etymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term.

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Noun

Examples
Their "good solution" caused only more problems.

scare quote (plural scare quotes)

1. (chiefly in the plural) A quotation mark deliberately used to provoke a reaction or to indicate that the author does not approve of a term or clause, rather than to identify a direct quotation. [from 1956]

   Synonyms: shudder quote, sneer quote

   • 2001 January 1, “The Retreat From Inquiry and Knowledge in Special Education.”, in Journal of Special Education:

     One other important figure in postmodern thought is Richard Rorty, who might be characterized as master of the scare quote

   • 2004, P Timms, What's Wrong with Contemporary Art?:

     He is inordinately fond of the scare quote, a sign that he is not really sure of what he's talking about.

   • 2006 September 6, “Where Hairsplitting Can Become High Drama”, in New York Sun:

     An incidental pleasure is his witty mastery of the scare quote and the square bracket.

   • 2008, D Jeske, “Friendship and the grounds of reasons”, in papyrus.bib.umontreal.ca:

     I put the relevant pronouns in scare quote because Bundy’s interviewers succeeded in getting Bundy to talk about his crimes only by allowing him to describe them in the third person

Related terms

• air quote
• quote unquote

Translations

quotation mark used to provoke reaction

• Arabic: please add this translation if you can
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: (no equivalent exists; translation given for "quotation marks") 引號／引号 (zh) (yǐnhào)

• Czech: please add this translation if you can
• Dutch: please add this translation if you can
• Finnish: ironinen lainausmerkki
• French: guillemet ironique m
• German: ironisches Anführungszeichen n
• Hindi: please add this translation if you can
• Italian: virgolette ironiche f pl
• Japanese: please add this translation if you can
• Korean: please add this translation if you can
• Portuguese: aspas irónicas f pl (Portugal), aspas irônicas f pl (Brazil)
• Russian: please add this translation if you can
• Spanish: cita de miedo f
• Vietnamese: please add this translation if you can

Further reading

• Scare quotes on Wikipedia.Wikipedia