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Why do people say "quote unquote something" and not "quote something unquote" ?

⁨121⁩ ⁨likes⁩

Submitted ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨red_pigeon@lemm.ee⁩ to ⁨[deleted]⁩

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  • lath@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    It’s “quote unquote something” because most people who "quote something often forget to unquote afterwards.

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    • cleverusername@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

      I see what you did there… 🤣

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    • sxan@midwest.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

      And that breaks the processor and you have to reboot your listener and it’s such a paaaaaiin.

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      • FierySpectre@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

        Broke my brain, had to read 4 times to understand

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  • Zorsith@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    It’s the verbal equivalent of quotation marks done as a hand gesture.

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    • AbouBenAdhem@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

      Yeah—I think the canonical usage is to hold up your fingers as you say “quote unquote”, then lower your hands when the quote is complete.

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      • swab148@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

        One hand for quote, the other for unquote

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  • shasta@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    They are just doing the autocomplete verbally, like when you type an opening quote and the end quote goes in automatically but the next thing you type goes inside the quotes

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    • donuts@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

      Plausible for programmers, at least

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    • Cycadophyta@lemmy.cafe ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

      This is a solid take

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    • toynbee@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

      I hate this functionality.

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  • EmoDuck@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    Wait, it’s “quote unquote”? I have always been saying “quote on quote” my whole life.

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    • pineapplelover@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

      Bone apple tea

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    • DrSteveBrule@mander.xyz ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

      France is bacon

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    • Kayday@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

      That’s your two sense, anyway

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    • Sidyctism2@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

      truly a doggy dog world

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  • FourPacketsOfPeanuts@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    Professors and engineers, in my experience, tend to say “quote… the thing… end quote”. Regular people on the other hand, are lazy, inconsistent and generally oblivious to whether or not they’re being ambiguous.

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    • SatyrSack@feddit.org ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

      Regular people on the other hand, are lazy, inconsistent and generally oblivious to whether or not they’re being ambiguous.

      me_irl

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      • FourPacketsOfPeanuts@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

        o7

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  • 8000gnat@reddthat.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    this is one of those things that I have wondered about for so long that I forgot to wonder about it

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    • And009@reddthat.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

      Like would I know where the quote ended

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  • SzethFriendOfNimi@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    I’ve heard it said both ways.

    For example.

    When the statement you’re quoting is going to be quote, short or simple, unquote.

    Or, if it’s going to stand on its own and be quote, unquote, some long citation that would make famous Russian authors jealous.

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    • Incandemon@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

      I think I’ve most often heard quote unsuited used sarcastically, like scare quotes in writing. When someone’s quoting something seriously I usually hear the quote something unsuited, or a and I quote something.

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      • SzethFriendOfNimi@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

        Indeed. With very slowly pronounced “bunny ear finger quotes” as you say it to emphasize the sarcasm.

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    • fmstrat@lemmy.nowsci.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

      Usually I hear this as “quote something end quote”

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  • JackbyDev@programming.dev ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    Because “quite unquote” is done for a laugh typically and “quite unquote” sounds funnier and more pleasing to the ear.

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  • Eww@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    This is considered quote unquote “Lazy”

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  • TokenEffort@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    Unrelated but until a month ago I’ve been saying “quote ON quote” until I saw it actually written 😂🤣

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    • nokturne213@sopuli.xyz ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

      When I was younger I said quote END quote.

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    • modifier@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

      As a homeschooled kid, I usually had the opposite problem. Mispronounced so much shit.

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      • JackbyDev@programming.dev ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

        Archipelago.

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  • Redacted@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    Tangential, but I don’t understand why in American English you feel the need to say the word quote at all. In UK English we just use intenation.

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    • Pixel@lemmy.sdf.org ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

      Can I quote you on that?

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    • AnarchistArtificer@slrpnk.net ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

      I’m from the UK and I feel like I’ve heard enough UK English speakers saying “quote” that I had never thought of it as an American thing. That isn’t to say that the distinction you make doesn’t exist though, just that it may be variable across demographics or contexts.

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    • otp@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

      It’s useful for when you’re quoting someone who happens to use the exact same intonation as you!

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  • Trollivier@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    You’ll hear it sometimes in French.

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  • altima_neo@lemmy.zip ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    Because it would be pretty silly to verbally say “quote” “the thing” and them finish of with “unquote” at the end, like some kind of robot.

    The whole point of saying it is to clarify that you’re quoting something.

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  • Pixel@lemmy.sdf.org ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    I think because one gets the point across easily while the other is pedantic

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