3 ms·
I disagree. The feeling that immediately hits me when I read this headline is that they are pulling terminology from a 3rd party and using quotes to in fact les
by happytoexplain 7y ago
I disagree. The feeling that immediately hits me when I read this headline is that they are pulling terminology from a 3rd party and using quotes to in fact lessen the scare-factor of the terminology. To me, this headline says, "here's how this incident is officially described, not just some stuff we're making up to be dramatic - please read the article to get the details, because the terminology is not necessarily objective." This feels responsible to me, rather than fear-mongering. I think your approach may be a little tainted by the common cynical outlook many people share regarding the entirety of the concept of news.
- justin66 7y ago> I think your approach may be a little tainted by the common cynical outlook many people share regarding the entirety of the concept of news. Regarding my outlook towards the news, nothing could be further from the truth. > To me, this headline says, "here's how this incident is officially described, not just some stuff we're making up to be dramatic - please read the article to get the details, because the terminology is not necessarily objective." That's part of the problem with scare quotes. You're not trusting the reader. (in this case, the reader should be trusted to know that "blows up" and "excessive" are, well, as I described them above. One would hope they also trust you to not make stuff up, but if not, you're not going to fix that with some quotes.)
- dTal 7y agoThe term "scare quotes" is not synonymous with "scary quotes" - it refers to quotation marks added in order to distance the author from the source of the words, exactly as you describe.