This is something between a question and a shower thought. People use air quotes to stimulate “quoting” a word or short phrase in the middle of a sentence. Are there any other punctuation marks that can be stimulated this way? And in particular, is there a gesture for parentheses (like this)?
If not, then why not? How did quotes get special treatment?
And if yes - how many people would actually understand what those other gestures mean? (I am reminded of that scene from Friends where Joey admits he doesn’t know what air quotes mean)
Image taken from Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_quotes / https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Airquotes.gif
I don’t think this is about punctuation marks, this is about tone. It’s about “tone.” beCaUse IT’s aBOuT toNE. BECAUSE IT’S ABOUT FUCKING TONE!
English does a lot with how you say something. I didn’t give her the money. Try saying that phrase and stress a different word each time. If you see it written down, you are missing an awful lot if you’re unlucky
Air quotes don’t really need an accompanying gesture to make them be understood. Giving the gesture anyways is just making sure people don’t misunderstand it. And we are used to this doublespeak from our elected leaders. So adding “in air quotes” in speech and gesture is often a dig, a comedic device, and a deliberate act to fraternize with the other people who know what’s up.
Really good comment, although the correct sentence for this demonstration is “I never said I fucked your sister”