DOYLE60    771626 Wed, 10 Dec 03 02:18 PM When a speaker wishes to indicate the use of quotation marks, he often twinkles two fingers on each hand a few times. In Britain, do they twinkle just one finger on each hand? Pondering... Matt DOYLE60 Quotation Marks, Punctuation

	Michael Hamm    771641 Wed, 10 Dec 03 03:01 PM On 10 Dec 2003 14:18:49 GMT, Matt (Email Removed) wrote, in part: "When a speaker wishes to indicate the use of quotation marks, he often twinkles two fingers on each hand a few times." Does he? You make it sound to me like the fingers are moved independently. I've always seen them go up and down (or just down) in unison. They start nearly extended and are bent, then possibly unbent again, and then perhaps the process is repeated once. Michael Hamm Since mid-September of 2003, AM, Math, Wash. U. St. Louis I've been erasing too much UBE. (Email Removed) Of a reply, then, if you have been cheated, http://math.wustl.edu/~msh210/ Likely your mail's by mistake been deleted. Michael Hamm Quotation Marks, Mistakes, Punctuation

	masakim    772121 Wed, 10 Dec 03 09:03 PM "On 10 Dec 2003 14:18:49 GMT, Matt wrote, in part:" "When a speaker wishes to indicate the use of quotation marks, he often twinkles two fingers on each hand a few times." "Does he? You make it sound to me like the fingers are moved independently. I've always seen them go up ... unison. They start nearly extended and are bent, then possibly unbent again, and then perhaps the process is repeated once." The term air quotes has been recorded in print since the late eightieth, but the gesture itself, used as an accompaniment to speech, is likely to be much older. The gesture is formed by holding the fingers up in the air, notionally around the word or phrase being simultaneously expressed. The fingers are curled in the shape of quotation marks: use of middle finger with the forefinger perhaps represents double quotation marks, while use of the forefinger alone may represent single quotation marks. From The Oxford Dictionary of New Words (1998) The NBC host Matt Lauer asks a guest, "What do people in Great Britain think about this journalist, or *quote-unquote*, journalist?" Or Representative Bill Thomas of California tells a television interviewer, "There are other ways to get tax relief, not just within, *quote-unquote*, the president's plan." These usages of verbalized punctuation are sometimes accompanied by "air quotes," a visual signal of wiggling two fingers on each hand (recalling to some geezers the victory sign of a departed president). (William Safire, "On Language, " New York Time Magazine , July 8, 2001) Regards, masakim masakim Regards, Quotation Marks, Countries, United Kingdom, Great Britain, United States, Usages, Speaking, Writing, Punctuation, Speeches, Languages

	david56    772264 Wed, 10 Dec 03 11:36 PM "On 10 Dec 2003 14:18:49 GMT, Matt wrote, in part: ... unbent again, and then perhaps the process is repeated once." "The term air quotes has been recorded in print since the late eightieth, but the gesture itself, used ... finger with the forefinger perhaps represents double quotation marks, while use of the forefinger alone may represent single quotation marks." Cakes with "cream" This cannot be later than 1974, probably a couple of years earlier. David == david56 Quotation Marks, Punctuation

	Stewart Gordon    772844 Thu, 11 Dec 03 12:26 PM While it was 10/12/03 2:18 pm throughout the UK, DOYLE60 sprinkled little black dots on a white screen, and they fell thus: "When a speaker wishes to indicate the use of quotation marks, he often twinkles two fingers on each hand a few times. In Britain, do they twinkle just one finger on each hand? Pondering..." Not that I know of. William G. Stewart and Jeremy Paxman both tend to just say "quote". But the "unquote" at the end tends to be omitted altogether.. Stewart. My e-mail is valid but not my primary mailbox, aside from its being the unfortunate victim of intensive mail-bombing at the moment. Please keep replies on the 'group where everyone may benefit. Stewart Gordon Quotation Marks, Colours, Punctuation

	GenJerDan    772851 Thu, 11 Dec 03 12:47 PM "The NBC host Matt Lauer asks a guest, "What do people in Great Britain think about this journalist, or *quote-unquote*, journalist?"" Unquote? Shouldn't that be ENDquote? http://www.genjerdan.com/ If voting could really change things, it would be illegal. -Diebold internal memo GenJerDan

	DOYLE60    772933 Thu, 11 Dec 03 02:09 PM "while use of the forefinger alone may represent single quotation marks. From The Oxford Dictionary of New Words (1998)" I have never seen anyone signal the single quotes. Has anyone? Matt DOYLE60 Quotation Marks, Countries, United Kingdom, Great Britain, Punctuation

	Michael Hamm    773242 Thu, 11 Dec 03 05:16 PM "The NBC host Matt Lauer asks a guest, "What do people in Great Britain think about this journalist, or *quote-unquote*, journalist?"" "Unquote? Shouldn't that be ENDquote?" Who are you, Nero Wolfe? Michael Hamm Since mid-September of 2003, AM, Math, Wash. U. St. Louis I've been erasing too much UBE. (Email Removed) Of a reply, then, if you have been cheated, http://math.wustl.edu/~msh210/ Likely your mail's by mistake been deleted. Michael Hamm Mistakes

	Skitt    773429 Thu, 11 Dec 03 07:23 PM "GenJerDan wrote, in part:(responding to the following:)" "Unquote? Shouldn't that be ENDquote?" "Who are you, Nero Wolfe?" Hmm. I would have written "Who are you? Nero Wolfe?" Skitt (in Hayward, California) www.geocities.com/opus731/ Skitt Countries, United States