We’ve probably all witnessed the havoc a misplaced comma can wreak on an innocent sentence. “Let’s eat, Grandma” and “Let’s eat Grandma” are one small mark apart, but only one of them sounds like a line from Hannibal Lecter.
But there’s another punctuation mishap we see all the time, on signs, menus, storefronts, packaging, you name it: the misuse of quotation marks. Somewhere along the way, people decided these little curls were a handy way to add emphasis. The problem? They do draw attention to the words inside them, but not in the way anyone intended. A bar advertising “happy” hour suddenly sounds a lot more depressing, while a deli promising “fresh” sandwiches has us thinking twice about ordering. There are plenty more where those came from, so keep scrolling.
#1 The Quotation Marks On This Sign Gives It A Malevolent Undertone
Image source: sleightlymagical
#2 I “Guarantee” You’re Gonna “Love” These Unnecessary Quotation Marks
Image source: Paul Acocella
#3 Now Im Uncomfortable
Image source: coheetcornchumbly
Some might think punctuation marks are awfully small things to get worked up about, especially when texting seems to have made punctuation optional, at best. But as Louis Menand writes for The New Yorker, punctuation has evolved over centuries, “giving sentences rhythm, shape, and meaning.” And it turns out some of us still (over)think about punctuation a great deal. Morgan McMurrin explored this in a 2025 Parade article, even getting a psychologist to weigh in. And honestly? I’ve never felt more seen.
#4 I Have So Many Questions For Whoever Made This Sign At My Work
Image source: skididdle
#5 Beware Of Dog
Image source: Lmanwell23
#6 Man, I Could Really Go For A Starbucks, You Know?
Image source: mbz321
It helps to know I’m not the only one who’s written an email or message and then sat staring at it, agonizing over its punctuation. Does that sentence really warrant an exclamation point? Should I move it somewhere else? How many are too many? You don’t want to seem “overexcited,” as Nitsuh Abebe writes for The New York Times Magazine. But the alternative isn’t necessarily safer: A plain old period can seem “too brusque. Too cold. Too testy.”
#7 Don’t Use Your “Feet” Please
Image source: Ditto132
#8 Yes, Officer, I’m “21”
Image source: turbobex
#9 “Officer”
Image source: sowokeIdontblink
“It has been this way since soon after the smartphone arrived,” Abebe explains, “when older Americans started getting the unwelcome news that ending their messages with periods was a grave faux pas.” He goes on to describe a “new tonal consensus” in which the period came to seem “pointed, stern, passive-aggressive.” In other words, it had acquired a “newfound role as a jerk.”
#10 That Is Unsettling
Image source: TikiTakaTimbuktu
#11 Ah, Yes. “Ice” For My “Iced” Drink. Definitely Not Anything Else…
Image source: ThyKnightOfSporks
#12 The Authorities Have Got Wise To Our “Dance Parties”
Image source: HauntedFurniture
Research suggests this perception can affect how we interpret messages. A 2015 study led by Binghamton University psychology professor Celia Klin found that text messages ending in a period were perceived as less friendly and sincere than those without one, as NPR reported. As Florence Hazrat, author of On the Mark: From Periods to Interrobangs, How Punctuation Remade the World, puts it in a quote cited by The New Yorker, “The polite way to be rude now is to use correct punctuation.”
#13 Uhm
Image source: houtaroo
#14 I “Guarantee” You’re Gonna “Love” These Unnecessary Quotation Marks
Image source: Paul Acocella
#15 No Thanks…
Image source: TVF-Labs
The same punctuation mark one person uses to end a sentence without a second thought can leave someone else wondering whether they’ve done something wrong. As a result, as Abebe puts it, our anxieties about tone have “skipped right over the content of our messages to the characters that end them.” Suddenly, those tiny marks don’t seem so insignificant, do they?
#16 “Banned”
Image source: sutart_70584
#17 This Sign Has Been In My Family Since I Was A Kid And Was Passed On To Me By My Dad When My Wife And I Married
Image source: Anonymous
#18 Bulletin
Image source: pivotalmoments
Quotation marks bring their own set of complications and can leave readers wondering what a writer really means. June Casagrande, author of The Best Punctuation Book, Period., touched on the issue in a column for the Los Angeles Times, noting that quotation marks are often misused, sometimes with comic effect. She also noted that single quotation marks—what she calls “quotation marks lite”—often escape the same scrutiny. “They are misused at least as often as regular quotation marks, probably more. But no one pays much attention, perhaps because these errors seem only about 50% as funny,” she says.
#19
Image source: friendlyneighbourhoodwitch
#20 Sure You Do
Image source: The viral pop
#21
Image source: The viral pop
Casagrande outlines the “sanctioned” uses for quotation marks, explaining that “Regular quotation marks have several jobs.” They can indicate direct speech, draw attention to a word being discussed as a word, or signal irony. That last use is what makes some of these examples so unintentionally funny: quotation marks can make a perfectly ordinary description sound questionable, as though the writer is casting doubt on the very word they’ve chosen.
#22
Image source: The viral pop
#23
Image source: chickenmim
#24 Ummm… Nope… I’ll Hold It For The Real Restrooms
Image source: Scare Quotes
Take a word that usually inspires confidence, for instance. Put it in quotation marks, and suddenly that confidence can evaporate. The marks might suggest the writer is being ironic, is using the word loosely, or is casting doubt on the claim altogether. Of course, the person who put them there may have intended none of these things. But as readers, we don’t have access to that intention; we can only interpret what’s in front of us—and sometimes, a pair of tiny punctuation marks can cast an unexpectedly large (and hilarious) shadow of doubt.
#25 This Sounds Like A Secretive Way To Tell Me To Poison Someone
Image source: coletheburrito
#26 I “Guarantee” You’re Gonna “Love” These Unnecessary Quotation Marks
Image source: Paul Acocella
#27 I “Guarantee” You’re Gonna “Love” These Unnecessary Quotation Marks
Image source: Paul Acocella
#28 “Patients”
Image source: ally00ps
#29 I “Guarantee” You’re Gonna “Love” These Unnecessary Quotation Marks
Image source: Paul Acocella
#30 I’m Not A Fan Of Rabbit “Teeth”
Image source: bobert_the_wise
#31 Sir This Is The “Police”
Image source: mikeissad
#32 Yes, Yes. “Your Business.”
Image source: sutart_70584
#33 I “Need” This “Poster” To Use “Quotation” Marks “Correctly”
Image source: schmelzoro
#34 Til That A Strawberry Is Not An Actual Berry But A Banana Is
Image source: notlurkinganymoar
#35 I Want To Touch It
Image source: a_leprechaun
#36 There Were Little “Notes” Like This All Over The “Airbnb” My “Friend” Stayed At Lmao
Image source: MOMTHEMEATLOAFF
#37
Image source: Keith Buzz Jennings
#38 As Opposed To The Meat Filled “Avocados”?
Image source: huffer4
#39 “The Wearer Of This Helmet Still “Lives” -Wear Yours-“ 1952 Korean War
Image source: Anonymous
#40 Some Folks Who Really Don’t Want You To Touch Anything But They Are Not That Committed To Being Polite About I
Image source: unnecessaryquotes
#41 Probably Offering Food, But Whether It Qualifies As Cuisine Is Up For Debate
Image source: unnecessaryquotes
#42 You Know
Image source: unnecessaryquotes
#43 Norwich University: Their “Limits” Can Be Stretched
Image source: theredhound19
#44 Have A “Safe” 4th Of July Everyone!
Image source: Anonymous
#45 Suspicious Quotation Marks
Image source: xormx
#46 How?
Image source: The viral pop
#47
Image source: The viral pop
#48
Image source: The viral pop
#49
Image source: The viral pop
#50 …
Image source: The viral pop
#51
Image source: The viral pop
#52
Image source: chickenmim
#53 Every Man Knows What This Really Means
Image source: Scare Quotes
#54 Not The TV Show
Image source: Scare Quotes
#55 This Is True Of Most Of The Truck Drivers… At Least Where I’m From
Image source: Scare Quotes
#56 My Guess Is The Adult Section
Image source: Scare Quotes
#57 At Least We Know It’ll Be Professionally Done
Image source: Scare Quotes
#58 Mmm. “Coffee”
Image source: Scare Quotes
#59 Ummmmm
Image source: Scare Quotes
#60 Ummm. So Breakfast?
Image source: Scare Quotes
#61 “Fast Frank” Electric Hot Dog Cooker
Image source: Webbtrain
#62 Hmmm
Image source: JT_3K
#63 Found This At The Secondary School I Had To Drop Out Of Due To Bullying
Image source: dr4gon1154
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