[Ads-l] spooky claws

[Andy Bach]

https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=35093

The OED's gloss for "air quote" incorporates the connotation of irony:

*n.* orig. *U.S.* (usually in* pl*.) a pair of quotation marks gestured by
a speaker's fingers in the air, esp. to indicate that what is being said is
ironic, mocking, or disingenuous, or is not a turn of phrase the speaker
would typically employ.

But the OED's entry also gives evidence that some people were miming
two-fingered quotes in the air more than 90 years ago (though this seems to
be a slightly different version of the gesture):

[1927   *Science* 8 July 38/2   Some years ago I knew a very intelligent
young woman who used to inform us that her 'bright sayings'..were not
original, by raising both hands above her head with the first and second
fingers pointing upward. Her fingers were her 'quotation marks' and were
very easily understood.]

The OED's earliest actual "air quotes" citation is from 1989, and supports
the "ironic, mocking, or disingenuous" connotation:

1989   *Spy* Mar. 94/1   When Bob and Betty describe themselves in these
ways, they raise the middle and forefingers of both hands, momentarily
forming twitching bunny ears—air quotes, the quintessential contemporary
gesture that says *We're not serious*.

"twitching bunny ear quotes" is, I think, the best of the lot!

On Tue, Oct 1, 2019 at 12:58 PM Margaret Winters <mewinters at wayne.edu>
wrote:

> Though we call them "scare" quotes...
>
> ----------------------------
> MARGARET E WINTERS
> Former Provost
> Professor Emerita - French and Linguistics
> Wayne State University
> Detroit, MI  48202
>
> mewinters at wayne.edu
>
>
> ________________________________
> From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of
> Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> Sent: Monday, September 30, 2019 2:24 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Subject: Re: spooky claws
>
> > On Sep 30, 2019, at 1:52 PM, Andy Bach <afbach at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> >
> >> And if there is an existing term somewhere, tell me what it is,  (Then
> > switch to " spooky claws.")
> >
> > Isn't "air quotes" the usual term?  Unless you mean that the face
> > scrunch/air quotes adds a level of disbelief that air quotes alone
> doesn't
> > carry.
>
> I think the semantics are very different.  The spooky claws, where the
> fingers are wiggled back and forth, indicate “whoo-whoo” as in astral
> projection, Marianne Williamson, etc., not simple scare-quote-distancing
> the way air quotes do.
>
> LH.
> >
> > On Sun, Sep 29, 2019 at 4:41 PM Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com
> >
> > wrote:
> >
> >> On Friday, MSNBC's Nicolle Wallace made political history by becoming
> the
> >> first former Republican White House staffer and current news host to
> >> scrunch up her face and wiggle her fingers at viewers while expressing
> >> skepticism about a conspiracy theory.
> >>
> >> I asked my wife if some phrase existed for this familiar, two-handed
> wiggly
> >> gesture.  She immediately responded, "spooky claws."    I wondered aloud
> >> why I'd never met with that expression, and she clarified by saying
> she'd
> >> just made it up.
> >>
> >> So if there's no recognized term, I urge everyone to adopt "making
> spooky
> >> claws."  ('Tis the season.)
> >>
> >> And if there is an existing term somewhere, tell me what it is,  (Then
> >> switch to " spooky claws.")
> >>
> >> JL
> >>
> >> --
> >> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
> truth."
> >>
> >> ------------------------------------------------------------
> >> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >>
> >
> >
> > --
> >
> > a
> >
> > Andy Bach,
> > afbach at gmail.com
> > 608 658-1890 cell
> > 608 261-5738 wk
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>


-- 

a

Andy Bach,
afbach at gmail.com
608 658-1890 cell
608 261-5738 wk

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org