Straight quotes are the generic vertical quotation marks produced by your keyboard—there’s a single straight quote (') and a double straight quote (").
Curly quotes are the marks used in proper typography. There are four curly quote characters: the opening single quote (‘), the closing single quote (’), the opening double quote (“), and the closing double quote (”). (The closing single quote is also used as the apostrophe.)
If you learn only one thing from this website, learn this:
Straight quotes should never, ever appear in your documents.
When I see straight quotes, it’s like watching a movie where the boom microphone drops into the frame from above. Nothing looks more amateurish.
Fortunately, most people already know how to avoid straight quotes: by default, both Word and WP will substitute curly quotes when you type. So why do I keep seeing straight quotes in legal documents?
The problem is that when you paste or import text with straight quotes in it—for instance, the plain text of a deposition transcript or email—those characters are not always converted properly.
So commit this tip to memory:
- Use the search and replace function to search for all instances of straight single quote (') and replace them with the same character—a straight single quote (').
- Use the search and replace function to search for all instances of straight double quote (") and replace it with the same character—a straight double quote (").
Before you exclaim “that won’t do anything!”, try it. When Word or WP replaces each quote mark, it also performs the straight-to-curly conversion.
Can you please explain why this is important? If all parties (you the exception) are unaware or don’t care, then why does it matter so much?
Aside from the other postings on this site about why typography is important—
Clients, judges, clerks, and opposing counsel can and will make inferences about your competency and credibility based on your attention to details.
So first, it’s dangerous to assume that others have the same level of discernment as you. How do you know they’re “unaware or don’t care”? That’s like the attorney with bad eyesight who says “I don’t really need to change into a different shirt—the judge will never notice the coffee stain on this one.” Risky. The Seventh Circuit promulgates detailed typographic advice. Does that prove how much they don’t care?
Second, anyone who reads a lot gains an intuitive sense of the difference between good and bad typography. Like Potter Stewart, they may not be able to explicitly define it, but they know it when they see it. For instance, if you go to a hardware store and handle 10 screwdrivers, you’ll still have an intuitive opinion of which one is the sturdiest and easiest to use, even though you don’t know anything about screwdriver manufacturing.
Don’t forget, though, that inches and feet should still be left as ” and ‘, rather than ” and ’ (although some will argue that they should be set at a slight angle — italicized, perhaps — unlike most straight or curly quotes, but even for me that’s a bit nit-picky)…
those arent “straight quotes”, they are inch marks.
Strictly speaking, they’re not inch marks either—proper inch marks have a slight SW-to-NE angle to them (they are known to typographers as prime marks).
Straight quotes were invented to save space on typewriters. Curly quotes come in left-hand and right-hand versions, which would require two character slots. Whereas the straight quotes are “ambidextrous”.
While we’re picking nits–commas and periods go inside the quotation marks in American usage.
I am a lawyer and I hate curly quotes with as great a passion as you hate straight quotes. If this recommendation is based solely upon your personal preference, then we are at an impasse.
Generally, my recommendations on this site represent the consensus view of typographic authorities and professional practicing typographers. They are not “personal preferences”. If something is largely a matter of preference, I will say so.
The reason to bother at all is that straight quotes guarantee that you will eventually (and sooner than you might imagine) create a statement that is lethally confusing. Do you enjoy reading and rereading a sentence in order to deduce whether a particular quote begins or ends the pertinent content? Would you like to inflict this annoyance on your readers? End of story.
Of course I’m only expressing my personal preference …
Two comments: I was a federal (district court) law clerk, and the judge for whom I worked occasionally sat by designation at one of the circuit courts. I wrote draft opinions for the panels. I KNOW some judges pay attention to straight vs. curly quotes, because other judges on the panel would circle them when proofing the drafts.
And regarding the Find/Replace function, sometimes cutting and pasting brings in characters that are not recognized as quotation marks (depending on the source — copying from .pdfs will do this). You may need to check what the underlying code is for the mark before during the Find/Replace.
The reason I use straight quotes on the web is because of the problems with control characters in databases (which sometimes truncate on control characters during database operations). Curly quotes are control characters.
Your point about improved readability in legal documents is well made. OpenOffice.org has similar ability. But care should be taken when pasting the documents into websites that use a database backend.
I understand that curly quotes convey more information than straight quotes, and so I can understand your preference. But I cannot help but think curly quotes look hideous. As a lawyer and a writer, I invariably use the same find-replace mechanism you suggest to remove curly quotes from all my documents. Perhaps some will find it objectionable. But I doubt most anyone will find it as amateurish as you. What I find amateurish is the mix of curly and straight. Ugh.
Again, this is not my “preference”. This is the consensus view of typographic authorities and professional practicing typographers. Also see the typographic guide of the Seventh Circuit, which recommends curly quotes. Also see the comment from Tricia, above, who witnessed federal circuit judges correcting straight quotes.
You are welcome to adopt a habit contrary to the rule, but that doesn’t disprove that the rule exists.
It’s funny to read lawyers arguments with one another.
Thanks for the good humor!
Food for thought on all those who think quotes and such are details and that details don’t count-
What’s detail is a matter of perspective. The perspective that matters is your audience, is it not? Or are you writing pleas to the judges because you simply enjoy it? In that case, take up gardening; it’s much more tolerable of errors than your clients will be when they find out your preference for lack of attention to details specified by your own profession caused someone to look sourly upon their suit!
It’s important because “dumb” quotes have a different meaning than curly quotes. Although they not be commonly understood they are for different purposes. Just like colons are different than semi-colons, straight and curly quotes are different punctuation marks. Using the correct punctuation shows education and professionalism.
“Straight quotes should never, ever appear in your documents.”
Where did this “straight quote” nomenclature come from? These are foot and inches marks, and yes, they can and should appear where style dictates these abbreviations be used.
Ah, the internets…
Yes, the straight quote characters can and should be used as foot and inch marks (in preference to the curly quote characters, which are incorrect for that purpose).
But the reason they’re known as straight quotes is because that’s been their primary function since they first appeared on typewriter keyboards.
Your comment is akin to asking “Where did this ‘exclamation point’ nomenclature come from? That’s a factorial operator.” True in exceptional cases, but not in the main.
I disagree.. “smart quotes” fit a book or a poster. But when it comes to web, single vertical quotes are better. Programmers use the simple ” and ‘ vertical quotes otherwise everything gets thrown out of whack. Everything should be uniform. LOL!
[...] Typography for Lawyers [...]
I’m a former typesetter turned legal word pro operator. I hate straight quotes with a passion. In the early days of desktop publishing, the use of straight versus curly quotes spoke to whether the operator knew what they were doing. Those who knew and came from a strong type background would always use curly quotes. The desktop publishers who were new to the biz used straight quotes. It was a dead giveaway.
I have to admit, I’ve always hated it when a rogue straight quote ends up in a document with all curly quotes - the straight quotes just looks bad to me, but I never knew why — you have articulated it well. Thanks for showing me how to rid my documents of them!
It’s the little things in life that make the difference - this is no exception.
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1. I agree with the use of curly quotes instead of straight quotes. But I despair of Microsoft Word insisting on using a left curly single quote in the ‘123 Patent, rather than letting me use a right curly single quote. That’s because it’s a contraction, not a quotation, and Microsoft Word doesn’t know the difference.
2. North American Typographers Convention puts commas and periods inside quotes, question marks and semicolons go inside or outside as they make sense. So you don’t quote “this phrase”. Instead you quote “this phrase.”
3. Microsoft Word doesn’t properly obey the principle that there is supposed to be extra space after periods and somewhat less extra space after commas. If you omit the extra space, it is called French spacing. The typewriter version is to use two spaces after periods. The extra space was introduced by typographers who got paid by the line, and they got paid a little more when the extra space resulted in extra lines. The practice persists because it looks better. But it is being killed off by Microsoft Word, as it makes it hard to add that partial space.
Recently and accidentally I discovered that WordPress automatically substitutes proper foot and inch marks when it detects something that looks like a measurement reference, such as 6′ 2″.
I commend you, WordPress programmers, for your attention to detail.
Thank you for helping to educate an already well educated group in society. Typography matters. Good typography isn’t a necessity, but it will always help. The end product will always be more pleasing to the audience, regardless of whether they can pinpoint why.
These “straight quotes” are called “prime” and “double prime” and denote feet and inches.
Worth noting that if you’re using a Mac:
alt + ] = ‘ (left single quote)
alt + shift + ] = ’ (right single quote)
alt + [ = “ (left double quote)
alt + shift + [ = ” (right double quote)
It’s useful to memorise these shortcuts in case you find a rogue straight quote knocking about, or if you want to type an apostrophe at the beginning of a word.