[Ads-l] spooky claws

[Laurence Horn]

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

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