h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Scare quotes are a different thing. They're used to suggest something isn't real. This is a valid use of quotation marks.

:: "The 'free' meal actually cost us $20."

The quoation marks around /free/ are used to imply that the word is invalid.

The same usage can be used by, for example, anti-gay activists who talk about same-sex "marriage", in states where such marriage is perfectly legal. Here, the implication is made that the marriage is invalid, while in fact it is perfectly valid. That's an example of scare quotes.

TRiG.

>>I wrote a version of MacBeth that was set in a library

Act IV - Scene I

HECATE
O well done! I commend your pains;
And every one shall share i' the gains;
And now about the cauldron sing,
Live elves and fairies in a ring
Enchanting all that you put in.

[Exit HECATE.]

SECOND WITCH
By the pricking of my thumbs,
Something wicked this way comes.

[Knocking.]

Open, locks,
Whoever knocks!

[Enter MACBETH.]

MACBETH
Oook!


Sorry!

Thanks TRIG. I see you were referring to use of the word scare
in around anhaga's Post 23 and a brief discussion of the great
Barlesque scare in which apostrophes revolted against Unicode.

But I have seen references to 'scare quotes' prior to the great
Barleycornboil. Some troll accused me of using them in one the
great debate threads. I had indeed used single quotes to frame
a few words (in lieu of italics) to indicate their loaded meaning
but the atmosphere in that thread at that time was not conducive
to asking for a simple explanation so I have been waiting for a
discussion like this one. All this time I have been assuming it
was a stylistic criticism that meant I was being charged with
using them hysterically or histrionically to unnecessarily give
my words added impact.

Moi?


~jwf~

I hadn't turned the page.
The counter said '1 new post'
and there were actually three.


Now I see you had more to say.
So, please ignore my last and
thank you for the completed explanation.


~jwf~

(The Scottish play has always been in my blood.

Anecdote told to me by my Dad before I was even wanting to wear long trousers..., He acted the part of the third witch at school, (it was an all boys school).

Parents all come to performance.

1st witch: Where the place?

2nd witch: Upon the heath.

3rd witch: There to meet with Macdobeath

(He came close to expulsion for that.)

>> set in a library <<

Interesting subject, libraries as settings.
Hmmm...

The Day After Tomorrow, a climate-change, total freeze-up,
scifi-thriller uses the New York City Public Library as a
place of refuge for a handful of survivors who keep burning
books in a huge open fireplace to keep warm. There's even a
Guttenberg Bible involved.

Bad movie, bad scifi, bad idea all round I say.

~jwf~

Ah... reminds me of a scene from The Razor's Edge. Bill Murray's character has gone on a world trip to find the meaning of it all (yeah, we know it's 42). He's brought with him all of his books on philosophy, religion and thought. Half way around the world he's taken these books with him. He ends up in Nepal. He's there to meet a wise man/guru/lama in the mountains. The lama tells him to climb up to the top of the mountain to find a small cabin. There he will find what he's looking for, but he must take his books with him.

He goes to the cabin at the top of the mountain. It's obviously freezing and snow bound. There is a small stove in the cabin, but no wood...

Oh, heck, ~jwf~, after everything thawed out, all they had to do was crank up the eBook version of each thing they'd burned...

B4someonethrowsacopyofFahrenheit451@myhead

I bet Elvis had the same problem! Russian Sci Fi is so cool

"The Day After Tomorrow" was just stupid. Why burn books when there are so many chairs and desks? They burn much longer. And why make such a big deal about rescuing the bible when it's the most widely-published book in the world, and there will be millions of surviving copies?

Ooh, ooh... I know the answer to this....

Because Roland Emmerich is an eejit!

Oh, someone else who knows LaTex. Delighted to meet you, Dr St Justin.

HN

Not that I use it terribly often... but some things do stick in the mind!

Hey, I'm a LateX user too!

"Single quotes, aka apostrophes, aka inverted commas are a
necessary evil when italices are not available for
emphasis"

Um. Not really... on t'puter *asterisks*, /obliques/ and _underscores_ are all valid methods of emphasis when one cannot italicise, but quote marks never are. On a handwritten sign the best methods of emphasis are underlining or ALL CAPS.

Plus in most cases where quote marks are erroneously used there is no requirement for emphasis anyway.

To be or not to be, THAT is a wasp
alas poor Yorick, he played for Leeds Utd

Macbeth, in the Library with the Dagger.

Zube

mrs scarrlett, in the kitchen with the lodger................

I once went to a whodunnit evening in the central library in town - one of those where we all play detective. However they did close the library for it.

Who got to say "Book 'em, Danno?"