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On 07/31/09 16:47, Warp wrote:
> Patrick Elliott<sel### [at] npgcable com> wrote:
>> If anything, McCain could be considered a better case, since we "do"
>> know he wasn't "physically" even on the same continent, at the time.
>
> I hate to be a grammar nazi, but those quotation marks take most of the
> seriousness of your writing away. I really think you should avoid misusing
> them.
>
> In these types of sentences putting a single word in quotes usually means
> that you are using euphemisms or irony, that you are not literally meaning
> what the word is saying.
I really doubt that grammar rules suggest this. I think you mean an
often used meme/convention.
In any case, it's a matter of interpretation. His usage of quotation
marks for 'physically' is strictly to point out that he's using the same
words as the opposing side (i.e. that it is not merely his
interpretation). In one sense, that is close to the ideal usage.
> (That's the only possible meaning because you are clearly not quoting
> anybody nor using some kind of slang or obscure word (requiring explanation
> for those who don't know it) or alias.)
My understanding was that he _was_ quoting a number of people. He just
didn't state who.
--
Give a man a fish and you feed him for one day. Teach him to use the Net
and he won't bother you for weeks.
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