There are a lot of ways you can accentuate a word. You can bold it, italicize it, underline it, but what you shouldn’t do is use quotation marks. It doesn’t highlight the word – it actually becomes the opposite of what you want it to be.

Growing up, my mom would always sign her cards with quotation marks. Love, “Mom.” I suppose when I was younger I never noticed the signal this was sending. But as I grew up, I began to realize the implications.

“Mom,” I said. “Do you know what that means? It means you’re implying that you’re not really my mom. As if you kidnapped me as a baby.”

She claimed she didn’t know she was doing it and I’m inclined to believe her. I still look to see if she will use them but both her and my aunt have held off on doing it. I?would actually really like to see it now just because of how funny it is.

It’s quite humourous how often misplaced quotation marks are found throughout the day. While home in Escanaba I saw a sign that claimed something was fresh from the “farm.” This does not entice me to buy those products. At least it wasn’t fresh that was in quotation marks.

In a business around town I saw them, too. In a certain stairway there is a sign that reads “Safety first.” The sign encourages people to use the handrails, but the quotation marks say a whole different story. Throw caution to the wind! Don’t bother with the rails. In all fairness, it appears to be a pretty old sign. Perhaps back then using quotation marks for emphasis was more accepted.

But these are not isolated incidents. A simple Google search will pull up thousands of examples of misplaced quotes. Employees must “wash their hands.” Receive a professional “massage.”?”Santa” is coming.

Clearly whoever created these signs didn’t know what they were doing.

So if you’re reading this and thinking to yourself:?”Oh, gosh, I?do that.”?Perhaps a resolution we can all make is to just stop. The only time you should really use quotes is if, you know, you’re actually quoting someone.