Friday, July 09, 2004
Scare Quotes
The use of "scare quotes" has become somewhat rampant in the post-9/11 era. Although the juxtaposition of the following two uses of them on Google News just now seemed a little peculiar.
Bush military records 'destroyed' (Al Jazeera)
US 'deserter' in N Korea since 1965 is released (Daily Telegraph)
Although you have to wonder why would the North Koreans ever dare expose a supposedly deserter to someone that they kidnapped. I mean, it doesn't exactly reinforce the benevolent image of the Great Leader.
(I am well aware that I used scare quotes myself at the beginning of this post: around the actual term itself, incidentally. However, I used them merely to point out that the term isn't a really formal one; I'm not suggesting that people aren't using them as an editorial technique.)
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