[lit-ideas] Re: Signs of the Times

DR:

If you're wondering what those single quotation marks could mean...
I'd always thought that single quotation marks were used to encapsulate a quote within a quotation, but then JL introduced the term "scare quotes" which I interpreted as double quotation marks used, not to mark off the start and stop of a quotation, but as signal of caution: a warning of irony or of some other non-linearly linguistic use of a word, a way of drawing attention to a word or its referent beyond the usual keen -- kind of like a marquee or the strobe of a warning light. But until then, in such contexts, I had always pressed single quotation marks into service. I became quite confused and flailed about, sometimes using one, then the other. Friends began to worry about my mental stability. They took me aside, advised counseling. Consistency, they insisted, was not the hobgoblin of small minds but a hallmark of sanity. Perhaps so, but this is not something that counseling can settle, this touches on the very essence of who I am as a human being. We humans are first and foremost mobile language machines. This punctuation question is a monkey wrench thrown into my gears -- thanks, JL! -- but, thank God, only when I take pen in hand or put fingers to keyboard. I can still speak clearly -- to the chagrin of many. 

Mike Geary
Memphis
----- Original Message ----- From: "David Ritchie" <ritchierd@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> 
To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Friday, August 31, 2007 11:24 AM
Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: Signs of the Times
Passed a truck on the freeway. The logo on the side said that it belonged to "Meat Product Designers."
A sporting goods store's ad insert in our paper today--"fantastic Labor Day COUPON SALE!"--lists, among others, shoes by Attix, "Men's or Women's 'Swindle' Lifestyle."
You can have a pair either of these or "Men's or Women's 'Electron' running" for twelve dollars.
If you're wondering what those single quotation marks could mean, wondering whether the shoes are postmodern or ironic, the answer is that all other names in the ad are done this way: 'Riley Creek' Hiking, 'Behind Da Back' Basketball, 'Astoria II' Casual, 'Bracara IV TRX FG' Soccer.
The 'World Cup' Replica soccer ball, by the way, comes with an "all- weather cover," which could be useful. 

David Ritchie,
labo[u]ring towards a lifestyle in
Portland, Oregon

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