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[-] lath@lemmy.world 128 points 1 week ago

It's "quote unquote something" because most people who "quote something often forget to unquote afterwards.

[-] cleverusername@lemm.ee 44 points 1 week ago

I see what you did there.... 🤣

[-] sxan@midwest.social 10 points 1 week ago

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

[-] FierySpectre@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago

Broke my brain, had to read 4 times to understand

[-] andyburke@fedia.io 47 points 1 week ago

If you are quoting a word or short phrase you use this form to make it quicker and easier for the listener to understand.

If you quote a long section, saying "quote, , unquote." is common and accepted.

[-] Zorsith@lemmy.blahaj.zone 36 points 1 week ago

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

[-] AbouBenAdhem@lemmy.world 10 points 1 week 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.

[-] swab148@lemm.ee 3 points 1 week ago

One hand for quote, the other for unquote

[-] half@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago

If anyone did this in front of me I would smack them in the mouth.

[-] shasta@lemm.ee 26 points 1 week 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

[-] donuts@lemmy.world 11 points 1 week ago

Plausible for programmers, at least

[-] Cycadophyta@lemmy.cafe 6 points 1 week ago

This is a solid take

[-] toynbee@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago

I hate this functionality.

[-] EmoDuck@sh.itjust.works 22 points 1 week ago

Wait, it's "quote unquote"? I have always been saying "quote on quote" my whole life.

[-] pineapplelover@lemm.ee 22 points 1 week ago

Bone apple tea

[-] DrSteveBrule@mander.xyz 12 points 1 week ago

France is bacon

[-] Kayday@lemmy.world 11 points 1 week ago

That's your two sense, anyway

[-] Sidyctism2@discuss.tchncs.de 8 points 1 week ago

truly a doggy dog world

[-] 8000gnat@reddthat.com 11 points 1 week ago

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

[-] And009@reddthat.com 1 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

How would I even know where the quote ended

[-] SzethFriendOfNimi@lemmy.world 10 points 1 week 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.

[-] Incandemon@lemmy.ca 9 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

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

[-] SzethFriendOfNimi@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago

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

[-] fmstrat@lemmy.nowsci.com 3 points 1 week ago

Usually I hear this as "quote something end quote"

[-] Eww@lemmy.world 9 points 1 week ago

This is considered quote unquote "Lazy"

[-] JackbyDev@programming.dev 9 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Because "quote unquote" is done for a laugh typically and "quote unquote" sounds funnier and more pleasing to the ear.

[-] TokenEffort@sh.itjust.works 8 points 1 week ago

Unrelated but until a month ago I've been saying "quote ON quote" until I saw it actually written 😂🤣

[-] nokturne213@sopuli.xyz 4 points 1 week ago

When I was younger I said quote END quote.

[-] modifier@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 week ago

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

[-] JackbyDev@programming.dev 3 points 1 week ago

Archipelago.

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.

[-] SatyrSack@feddit.org 4 points 1 week ago

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

me_irl

[-] Trollivier@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 week ago

You'll hear it sometimes in French.

[-] Pixel 1 points 1 week ago

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

[-] Redacted@lemmy.world 0 points 1 week 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.

[-] Pixel 6 points 1 week ago

Can I quote you on that?

[-] otp@sh.itjust.works 5 points 1 week ago

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

[-] AnarchistArtificer@slrpnk.net 3 points 1 week 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.

[-] altima_neo@lemmy.zip -3 points 1 week 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.

this post was submitted on 21 Nov 2024
113 points (93.8% liked)

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