quotation marks

quotation marks are used to question the legitimacy of a word or phrase, for example, "Indian giver," "all American," "Yellow Peril." Sometimes they impute dubiousness where there is none. Journalist Susan Berkson writes, "George Will came up with another boffo idea: To silence any radical feminist criticism, put basic facts—'sexual violence,' 'survivors,' 'silencing'—in quotation marks, calling into question their very existence." In a review of the work of a respected archaeologist, the writer's opinion of "feminist archaeology" was underlined by putting the term in quotation marks. Use quotation marks to imply that something is "so-called" or "alleged" or to express your disagreement with a concept; be wary of using them to disparage other people's realities.