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Are airquotes used in countries that don't use " ?
Posted: Thu Apr 06, 2023 2:24 am
by jcb
In America, people sometimes use airquotes to visually mark where one would write quotation marks ". Like this:
However, as wikipedia enumerates (
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quotation_mark ) not all languages use " as their quotation mark. For people in such countries, what is used instead ? Have airquotes been adopted despite the different written quotation mark ? Something else ? Nothing at all ?
Re: Are airquotes used in countries that don't use " ?
Posted: Thu Apr 06, 2023 5:07 am
by Raphael
I don't think that airquotes are even used in all countries that do use quotation marks. Not sure if I've ever seen them in Germany.
Re: Are airquotes used in countries that don't use " ?
Posted: Thu Apr 06, 2023 7:09 am
by Emily
Raphael wrote: ↑Thu Apr 06, 2023 5:07 am
I don't think that airquotes are even used in all countries that
do use quotation marks. Not sure if I've ever seen them in Germany.
that didn't stop us from doing them with one hand at shoulder height and the other near the waist in high school german class
Re: Are airquotes used in countries that don't use " ?
Posted: Thu Apr 06, 2023 2:16 pm
by alice
Emily wrote: ↑Thu Apr 06, 2023 7:09 am
Raphael wrote: ↑Thu Apr 06, 2023 5:07 am
I don't think that airquotes are even used in all countries that
do use quotation marks. Not sure if I've ever seen them in Germany.
that didn't stop us from doing them with one hand at shoulder height and the other near the waist in high school german class
DId you call them "Luftgansefüsschen"?
Re: Are airquotes used in countries that don't use " ?
Posted: Fri Apr 07, 2023 6:10 am
by Ares Land
I don't think we use airquotes much in France either.
We use this style: « », but these "" are familiar too.
Re: Are airquotes used in countries that don't use " ?
Posted: Wed Apr 12, 2023 5:31 am
by WeepingElf
Some people in Germany do use airquotes; I sometimes use them myself. There is no convenient term like English airquote, though. (The word suggested by alice, Luftgänsefüßchen, is nothing I have ever heard.)
Re: Are airquotes used in countries that don't use " ?
Posted: Wed Apr 12, 2023 6:25 am
by xxx
Ares Land wrote: ↑Fri Apr 07, 2023 6:10 am
I don't think we use airquotes much in France either.
We use this style: « », but these "" are familiar too.
but the soft power is such that I don't see anymore airquote à la française but only the one imported from the US media (and with the grimace that goes with it)...