air quotes


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air quotes

pl.n.
Gestures in which the index and middle finger of each hand are held up and curled at the same time, in imitation of quotation marks, used to indicate that something being said was actually said by someone else, is viewed with skepticism, or is a popular turn of phrase. Also called finger quotes.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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"Once all the public held the same 'currency,'" he said, making air quotes, "health systems became truly competitive, regardless of their location and payer mix."
"I went up and down areas with a cosh, hoping I'd be approached by somebody -- I'm ashamed to say that -- and I did it for maybe a week, hoping some [uses air quotes with fingers] 'black [expletive]' would come out of a pub and have a go at me about something, you know?
"I'm ashamed to say that and I did it for maybe a week - hoping some [Neeson gestures air quotes with his fingers] 'black b***' would come out of a pub and have a go at me about something, you know?
"I'm ashamed to say that, and I did it for maybe a week - hoping some [Neeson gestures air quotes with his fingers] 'black b***' would come out of a pub and have a go at me about something, you know?
"I'm ashamed to say that and I did it for maybe a week, hoping some [gesturing air quotes with his fingers] 'black b***d' would come out of a pub and have a go at me about something, you know?
Put another way, the entire story takes place inside invisible air quotes. It isn't a bad movie.
Another friend's overuse of air quotes prompts a reverie on linguistics.
I know Chris cant see me, but that doesnt stop me from inserting the air quotes with my free hand.
"I think you combine the fact that the Spurs have 'struggled' this year - I say 'struggled' in air quotes - and I think there's just an overall level of frustration from Spurs fans that we haven't seen in over 20 years."
It was used with air quotes, in the hope to convey the right emotions.
"Just because chocolate isn't 'clean'," he says, fingers miming air quotes, "doesn't mean you can't enjoy it and have it now and again."
Your mind, or ghost, has been placed in a new body, or shell, says scientist Juliette Binoche, just about managing to resist Dr Evil-style air quotes. She's talking to Scarlett Johansson, a cyborg known only as Major -- the first of her kind, though the setting is a near future where most people pay to be artificially 'enhanced'.