Use-mention distinction
Use-mention distinction
I haven't found any official statement from style manuals (though I'm sure my saying of that has instantaneously retroactively brought official statements into existence and promoted their page ranks).
Quod gratis asseritur, gratis negatur.
Re: Use-mention distinction
Are you talking about four-letter words, or quotes/referencing? I need a little help here.
Re: Use-mention distinction
I tried to give an example of what each option was in case identifying a mention made less than full sense. You could replace with (X is a(n) X.)
Quod gratis asseritur, gratis negatur.
Re: Use-mention distinction
I voted for double quotes, but I would only use them if you're going to be using them relatively rarely. If you're going to have tons of mentions in your writing (e.g., if you're writing a paper in English about English etymology), I'd probably go with italics as being less "busy." (But for a single use or infrequent uses, I'd worry that italics might be mistaken for emphasis.)
Last edited by Katya on Wed Apr 10, 2013 4:42 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Re: Use-mention distinction
OHHH! * FACEPALM*Digit wrote:I tried to give an example of what each option was in case identifying a mention made less than full sense. You could replace with (X is a(n) X.)
Re: Use-mention distinction
Squirrel, i had no idea either :/
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Re: Use-mention distinction
I'm still confused.
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Re: Use-mention distinction
If you're explicitly calling out a word in typed text (like, say, the word carpet), do you put it in italics, like I just did? Or would you say that the word should be in double quotes, or single quotes, or something else? That's what the examples in the poll are trying to show, too.
Re: Use-mention distinction
+1Katya wrote:I voted for double quotes, but I would only use them if you're going to be using them relatively rarely. If you're going to have tons of mentions in your writing (e.g., if you're writing a paper in English about English etymology), I'd probably go with italics as being less "busy." (But for a single use or infrequent uses, I'd worry that italics might be mistaken for emphasis.)