How do you do them? Which fingers do you use? I tend to change my tone of voice, and use my index and middle fingers for air quotes.
OMG!? U r S00 L33T! I 4m Th3 UlT1M4T3 N00b! What I meant was, I'm sorry. This sounds like a personal problem. AmishRakeFight
omg (oh my god/gosh/goodness) you are so leet (adept, adroit, cool, an awesome gamer, derivative of elite), I am the ultimate noob (beginner, bad player)! Like this.
Derision: The use of ridicule or scorn to show contempt. Example of using quotes to deride: Jaybee, a so-called "man," is actually an effeminate, profiteering Jew. By overemphasizing a noun, we call attention to it's misuse in a sentence and that we are in fact purposefully calling something by another, and opposite, name. A form of irony or sarcasm, if you will.
Whoa whoa now little water, there's another layer of irony and sarcasm to add to this clever mix of not saying what you mean! In conversation, air quotes have become quite trite, and frankly, really lame. Tools air quote. And "quoting" words in writing tends to be a sign of poor writing skills. Poor mockery skills, really. Rather than come up with a clever attack upon a name, just put "quotes" around the name, and suddenly things aren't what they are! However, one can ironically air quote, in which you are mocking someone, yet also calling attention to that fact that only douche bags air quote. It's an intricate process, but when pulled off correctly, can be absolutely devesating, or completely defuse awkward social situations. Either way, spectators and participants alike will be laughing.
You're wrong, air quotes in RL are back in a big way. I feel sorry for you living in the arctic and not knowing what's cool when. Air quotes haven't been lame since 2003, and ironically-air quoting in this day and age would only cause spectators to stick their tongue behind their lower lip and make chimpy retard noises (which is also back). If you want to do something ironically, I suggest sleeping with a latino, while air quoting terms like "spicey", "hot mamma" and "exotic", rolling your eyes and saying funny remarks like "they make brown teets for humans now?". Air quotes are hot this season, latino banging is not - unless it's done ironically to parody spic-stickers who thought they were cool like woody harrelson in white men can't jump.
That was quite clever. Here the word "clever" is an example of the, sometimes elusive, no-quote version of the quoted word. In real life it would be accompanied by a look halfway between pity and "do you smell that"? It is used when the statement, if taken at face value, would be completely impossible. Only then can the no-quote version of the quoted word be used, otherwise it would just be kind of confusing. EDIT - P.S. Keep practicing.
You're already calling attention to the word by saying "so-called." There's no need to also put it in quotes, in print or in air. It really is redundant and gives the impression that the speaker/writer isn't really in control of what he's saying/writing. And it's not sarcastic when you make it clear that the use of the word in this case is wrong. It's plain old-fashioned criticism. Ironic maybe, but Alanis pretty much destroyed the meaning of that word in her song. Americans never quite understood what it meant and now they haven't got a clue.
Yes, of course. There's nothing subtle about quotes, esp. air quotes. Adding the so-called is unnecessary hyperbole, just like the "" are. Quoting things to inform that one means the opposite of what they're saying already implies they aren't really in control of what they're saying. Here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarcasm So criticism through mockery, by calling attention to things using hyperbolically stating the opposite, you engage in sarcasm. Is not sarcasm a form of criticism? PS I appreciated how you "" so-called.
