Air Quote

[Bodington]

One of the ubiquitous affectations adopted by many speakers in otherwise normal discourse is the use of air quotes. As you’re aware air quotes are virtual quotation marks formed in the air with one's fingers when speaking. The question is how best to indicate to one’s reader in your text that such grandiosity was employed by the speaker in a dialogue. Is there a standard rule set in modern written English? I’ve tried various methods including stating at the outset that a character may be using an air quote and subsequently explicitly stating to the reader what words in the dialogue were subject to an air quote.

I have since adopted a brief method relying on the expectation that my reader will comprehend without further explanation. I surround the words of the air quote with single quotation marks followed by an asterisk and then in parenthesis the asterisk and the words: air quote. Do anyone of you have a better method?

 

[joy_of_cooking]

How much are your characters doing air quotes for you to set up a special syntax for quoting their air quotes?

I'd probably italicize the quoted portion and describe the gesture. E.g.,

"He was otherwise occupied," she said, using two derisive fingers on each hand to mark the quoted words.

 

[TarnishedPenny]

To be honest, I’m not sure it’s an issue. That said, the most important thing is that the reader clearly understands what’s going on. I’d probably just say something like, “Oh, so you think that’s fashionable,” said Anita, holding her fingers up in air quotes.

Edit: I like JoC’s phrasing better.

 

[EmilyMiller]

Air quote

You have to be kidding me

 

[intim8]

What's the purpose of specifically conveying air-quotes? Is it simply for a particular kind of emphasis in their tone, or is it part of the characterization of this person?

 

[lustychimera]

"I saw them doing, you know—" Her fingers made little air quotes. "—math."

"They were doing math." Math? Oh! I caught her drift.

The asterisk thing seems pretty meta. It'd take me out of the story.

 

[RejectReality]

I tend to skip the gesture entirely.

"The so-called experts say that..."

That carries the same level of disdain without having to deal with the gesture.

 

[mildlyaroused]

I'd tend to agree with others that it's better to either portray the action in prose, or if you can't find a nice way to do that then just portray the tone through a different means. Having an asterisk and brackets mid-story would take me out a little, and on top of that it might confuse some readers more - "air quote" isn't an entirely universal term. They might get your meaning better without a label.

 

[TheLobster]

"I saw them doing, you know—" Her fingers made little air quotes. "—math."

"They were doing math." Math? Oh! I caught her drift.

The asterisk thing seems pretty meta. It'd take me out of the story.

I did it something similar in my recent story (first page; search for "quotes"), although I did it with the usual "X said" interlude rather that the —interjection— (I think either is perfectly fine, just depends on how dynamic and fluid you want the character's speech to be vis-a-vis his or her actions).

As to why do it explicitly, I think it's just a matter of style. I tend to write some of my dialogues in a pretty detailed and evocative way, because I want to convey a rather precise mental picture. Therefore *asterisks* are already sort-of taken for ordinary vocal emphasis, and I do need to be explicit if I need the reader to know that the character really meant to use air quotes. Perhaps it will change and some point, and I'll learn to rely more on overall context cues and not be so OCD about how my readers are "supposed" to their imaginations, but hey, I haven't heard any complaints about it so far

 

[Britva415]

What's the purpose of specifically conveying air-quotes? Is it simply for a particular kind of emphasis in their tone, or is it part of the characterization of this person?

It's an action the character took.

@Bodington:
And that's how you describe it. Reader can't know it was air-quoted if you don't say so. There is no typographical convention for authoring air quotes. You have to spell it out.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

I'd go for 'math' and 'experts' over italics, but otherwise agree. Mention the action.

 

[Cagivagurl]

My suggestion, and I'm no expert.
Some text that might help below.

"I told you this was going to happen." She said using air quotes for emphasis.

Cagivagurl

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

Yeah, your describing an action the speaker took. I've done it like this, and a few other similar ways:

Besides our ‘mom’,” I did the air quotes thing, “would kill me.”

 

[SimonDoom]

Airquotes are often used in speech where the airquoted word is highlighted as something somebody else said, so I'd suggest in many cases using single quotes rather than italics to denote that section of the text.

"He said he was an 'expert,'" she told me, using airquotes.

 

[Djmac1031]

"He said he was an 'expert,'" she told me, using airquotes.

Yeah, this. Nothing else to add.

I know, real "helpful,"right?

 

[SimonDoom]

Yeah, this. Nothing else to add.

I know, real "helpful,"right?

If a Kink Lord and Consumate BS Artist can reach agreement on a topic in a thread, then they can just end the thread, right? There's nothing more to say.

 

[Bodington]

Airquotes are often used in speech where the airquoted word is highlighted as something somebody else said, so I'd suggest in many cases using single quotes rather than italics to denote that section of the text.

"He said he was an 'expert,'" she told me, using airquotes.

I suggest that in your example the reader would not be able to differentiate whether the whole sentence was the air quote or just the word expert.

 

[desecration]

Not much different than all of the people "fist pumping" (in the air) in some of these stories.

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

I suggest that in your example the reader would not be able to differentiate whether the whole sentence was the air quote or just the word expert.

The single quotes denote the word being 'air quoted'. That's pretty standard from the examples people have been giving.
Tell me I'm wrong if I am, but I believe it would improve readability, and is more correct in this specific instance to put the comma between the single and double quote, though; "... 'expert',"...

 

[MyBareTorso]

On a separate note, I just masturbated for the eleventh time while looking at Bodington's avatar...just thought I'd put that out there...

 

[mrs_mackenzie]

"He said he was an 'expert,'" she told me, using airquotes.

This is exactly what I'd do. Using the single quotes to make the point, with or without spelling out the air quotes action.

To be fair, at least in the UK, I don't see people physically do the action very often. Or, I would personally say it literally:

"He said he was a quote unquote expert," Mrs M said.

 

[Seadog777]

I'm finding it hard to concentrate when I see @mrs_mackenzie picture.

TBH, I don't believe I've run into the "air quotes problem".
If I did, I don't remember it.

I'd think doing single quotes inside of quotes would work, or just mention they used air quotes.

 

[Bodington]

On a separate note, I just masturbated for the eleventh time while looking at Bodington's avatar...just thought I'd put that out there...

What can I say other than that you are a connoisseur of true female pulchritude.

 

[Trionyx]

As Em implied, some use the term ‘bunny ears’ instead of ‘air quotes.’

“That is so passé,” he emphasized using bunny ears.

 

[jsmiam]

…. Do anyone of you have a better method?

Has anyone actually answered? This poor person didn’t ask for a thousand ✌︎opinions✌︎ on rewriting their story, did they?

All in good humor, life is a little different on the story side. And now and then we chat about what small subset of html can we sneak into a story. I don’t recall embedded styles coming up, nor much on the now deprecated <font> tag (Not recommended, although it might work. Actually, Wingdings aren’t exactly supported either, but probably work quite often)

I’m on my phone, too hard to experiment, but ascii code 0065, aka capital A as a wingding font looks like air quotes, doesn’t it? This is a job for bramble thorn. Maybe's tomorrow I’ll try messing with it myself.