50 Cases of Misused Quotation Marks That Produced Some Funny, Some Worrying, and Some Disturbing Sentences

Ah, those quotation marks... So much confusion and so much laughter.

Let's quickly review quotation marks for all the grown-up kids out there who didn't particularly enjoy grammar lessons, as it will be important to understand the warped and alternate interpretations presented in this post. To distinguish between direct speech, a quotation, or a sentence, these punctuation marks are typically employed in pairs across different writing systems.

You should use quotation marks with direct quotes, with titles of certain works, to imply alternate meanings, and to write words as words. In certain instances, quotation marks are not used for real quotes but rather to convey a sarcastic undertone—an ironic acknowledgment that the object being quoted isn't exactly what it is purported to be.

Things then take an odd turn when that occurs. When quotation marks are misused, they change the meaning of the sentence, but some people are quite unaware of that.

It makes their sentences sound completely different and gives a totally different context to their statements. We have gathered some of the "shiniest" examples of blatant quote misuse, and they are both funny and very disturbing at the same time.

Let's take a look:

1. "I “Love” My “Husband” Dearly"

reddit.com

2. "I’ve Said It Before and I’ll Say It Again: Quotation Marks Are Not for Emphasis"

ItHardToFindUsername

3. "Sure"

SyphilisOfficial

4. "I Require the 'Sauce'"

Seanofthedead64

5. "So the Food Isn’t Fresh Then, Got It"

ErwinAckerman

6. "Miami-Dade Police at Their Best"

Thepolitikid

7. "Heroes"

DrLuke1994

8. "I Don't Find This Very Reassuring"

DelayedReflex

9. "He Was Definitely Loved"

ihaveneverdonemeth

10. "The Cop Cars in Orange County, Florida All Say 'Making a Difference' in Comic Sans with Useless Quotation Marks. Makes It Seem Like They Aren't Making a Difference"

Warm-Branch

11. "This Massage Parlor Is a Little Sus"

Haunting_Yellow_8107

12. "This Is Just Suspicious All Around"

aspenthewolf

13. "I Don’t Think I Want to Know What This Means"

theoddhedgehog

14. "My Cousin Got This for His 18th Birthday"

lil_bewp

15. "I Don't Think I Want to Bring My Dog Here"

AnnoyedClaude

16. "Thanks, I Hate the Magic Stool Bus"

_DeathOfAStrawberry_

17. "Is 'Dipping Powder' Code for Coke?"

waitlikewhatlol7456

18. "Husband"

iforgotmyanus

19. "Are You Implying It Was Me Who ... in the Grass?"

TrashcanMan79

20. "Jesus"

PlasticRuester

21. "Quietly Move My Cat Indoors"

LoyolaTiger

22. "Duck"

BigBananaEnergy98

23. "I Think I’ll Pass"

luckyluke000

24. "Now That's a Clever Slogan"

TheGuyWithTheComment

25. "Wet"

chairmanlmao114

26. "The Pharmacy Thinks I'm Fueling Someone's Drug Habit"

Tsalikon

27. "Vaguely Threatening Church"

shinymak

28. "Something Tells Me I'm Not Going to Get a Prize Every Time"

PGPeachGames

29. "How Touching"

bea_easter12_

30. Alleged "Filmmaker"

OfficialMVPre

31. "So What Kind of Milk Are We Talking, Exactly?"

Boone710

32. "Found This Subtle Threat in Pakistan"

AdAny6792

33. "It's There to Fool the Horses"

a_leprechaun

34. "Birds"

comradekaitlyn

35. "Our" Community

Nehocoste

36. "Spotted at a Restaurant in Town"

amysloot

37. "The What Sauce?"

Hexenes

38. "Just Saw This in a McDonald's"

CorpseToes

39. "Threatening Church"

dejamenow

40. "Appropriate Suspicious Quotes"

paperoblivion

41. "When You Find Out That You're Adopted"

thatsokayking

42. "Found at My Local 'Mall Sword Store'"

Vensyth

43. "I Don't Understand What They Were Trying to Accomplish with the Quotes"

https://www.boredpanda.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/suspiciously-used-quotes-306-62dff76fa2519__700.jpg

44. "The Place You Go When You Need a Negative Test"

helpmyeyes_

45. "No Wonder It’s So Small"

StrangeMeeps

46. "Is It Though? As Seen Heading North on I-95 in Boca Raton, FL Yesterday"

kirby_the_elm

47. "Guitar Lessons"

JayneBayne96

48. "What Kind of Hotel Is This?"

mirkules

49. "This Sign at a Hotel I Stayed in Last Night"

TintarellaDiLuna

50. "Patient Survey"

PM_FAKE_SWEAR_WORD

Quotes receive significantly less attention than periods and commas do. In a sentence, you're more likely to use a comma or a period than a quote.

So, people tend to forget to use them properly. Most of the posts we've seen show people thinking that quotation marks are used to emphasize things.