Patrick Elliott <sel### [at] npgcablecom> wrote:
> Snort.. Oddly, I thought quotes where to quote things, which is kind of 
> the opposite of deemphasizing them.

  In writing, quotes can be used for several purposes, but emphasis has
never been one of them. There are basically three main purposes they can
be used for:

- Literal quotes. You write literally what someone has said and denote this
with the quotes. An example would be:

    He said that "all things being equal, the simplest explanation is the
    most plausible one."

- Mark a word as having some special meaning, such being a title, a slang
word or an alias. An examples:

    Miles "Tails" Prower is a playable character in the "Sonic the Hedgehog"
    game series.

- Denote an euphemism or ironic expression, or denote that the meaning of
the word should not be taken literally (iow. de-emphasis). Example:

    He got to "third base", if you know what I mean.

> What the hell did people do before 
> they had type facing, underlines, bold, etc.? :p

  Since the dawn of internet *asterisks* have been used for emphasis (as
a substitute for bolding) in online communication. This is, of course, a
completely informal convention. In printed media cursive is the de-facto
method for emphasis. Sometimes underlining as well.

-- 
                                                          - Warp

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