The lowdown on straight vs. curly quotes
When I was working as a magazine editor, one of the things I most hated to correct was quotation marks. No one ever seeming to know (nor care) when to use straight (‘ and “) vs. curly quotes (‘’ and “”) was one thing. But then you had the writers who’d use them interchangeably, throughout the document and often around a single word (like so: “stupid”). Then there was the fact that no one ever noticed the different quotes until I’d explained at least several times. The clincher? Search and replace ain’t so easy in word processors that aren’t MS Word (like the nets or InDesign), and you have to check each instance of a quote manually.
In a word? Annoying.
The good news is, you can find here guidelines for using quotes properly and earning the love of your copy editor forever.
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Let’s start with a little background info. What even are straight and curly quotes? Well, curly a.k.a. smart quotes (‘’ and “”) are your standard marks used in traditional printing. Whereas straight a.k.a. dumb quotes are the vertical marks first introduced by typewriters and today used in coding*. (I’ll update this post at some point with LINKS to where you can read more about the history of quotation marks and why there are different types at all.)
The reason you have to be careful about differentiating between straight and curly quotes (and backticks for that matter) is because they are not interchangeable. In fact, as far as your computer is concerned, they’re as unrelated as, say, # and *, and even require different input methods. (This is especially true in coding, where each symbol signals an entirely different command.) You could think of straight quotes as the generic mark and curly quotes as a fancier version needing extra steps to produce.
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So with that all in mind, how do you use the different quotes? In general:
Use curly quotes when dealing with print materials and/or working in publishing software like Word or InDesign.
It’s easier to use straight quotes when working online and in email (because not all content managers automatically recognize smart quotes — WordPress does.
NEVER use two single quotes to form quotation marks, like so: ‘ ‘ ` ` ’ ’
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Some tips:
You can use smart quotes online and in email if you’d like. Just note that not all content managers automatically recognize smart quotes (WordPress does). The HTML codes for curly quotes are:
left single quote (‘): ‘
right single quote and apostrophe (’): ’
left double quotes (“): “
right double quotes (”): ”
Word and InDesign come preconfigured to automatically convert dumb quotes to smart. The command to turn this feature on or off is found under:
Word: File → Options → Proofing → AutoCorrect Options → AutoFormat As You Type → option: “Straight Quotes” with “Smart Quotes”
InDesign: Edit → Preferences → Type → option: Use Typographer’s Quotes
Note that in InDesign, the autoconversion feature is far from error proof, and it behooves you to do a manual search and replace to make sure you’re catching all instances of errant quotation marks.
Software designed for code documentation like Notepad will convert all quotes to straight quotes and backticks. In my experience, pasting content back into a word processor usually preserves the original character you inputted, but double check to be sure.
If you ‘re writing for an organization, always consult that company’s internal style guide for the ultimate last word on preferred quotation mark usage.
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My final note, which might sound like negates everything I’ve said here, is that choosing straight vs. curly quotes, at least on the internets, very often comes down to personal judgment. Whichever mark you select, I cannot say this enough: be consistent, be consistent, be consistent in your use of one or the other, and you’ll be good to go.
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* A third category of quotes, grave accents or backticks (`), are also used in coding. You don’t really have to worry about backticks — that is, unless you’re typing letters like à and è (that is, using them as diacritical marks) or you’re a computer programmer.