"greengrocer's apostrophe" (was Re: Cam(pb)ell)

[Arnold Zwicky]

ron butters:

 In a message dated 8/4/2000 10:20:32 AM, laurence.horn at YALE.EDU
 writes:

  << I don't know ANY label for the
  innovative quotes-for-emphasis Steve mentions, though. >>

 Larry nodded here. The term is SCARE QUOTES--which I'm sure he knows.

if larry is like me, he knows this term perfectly well, but doesn't
have this meaning for it.  i would imagine that the meaning he has
is one given in the NSOED for SCARE-QUOTES:

  quotation marks placed round a word or phrase to draw attention
  to an unusual or arguably inaccurate use.

this is why quotes-for-emphasis so often strike many of us as
hilarious or absurd.  "FRESH" ORANGE JUICE! appears to some of
us to be saying that the orange juice is not in fact fresh within
the meaning of the act, but merely faux-fresh or fresh-like.

arnold (zwicky at csli.stanford.edu), posting from home, where there's
  only a NSOED and an AHD3