When People Put Random Words in "Quotes"

What's going "on" with this?

Do you know what quotation marks are used for?

Why type extra characters when you don't have to? Or, better yet, why make little finger quotation marks when you don't "have" to?

I must say, I love the sound in my head that I'm getting when I put random things in quotes. It's like this sarcastic, emboldened voice. "Voice." See? That one there.

But anyway, back to my point.

People online, in papers, in essays, in real life-- everywhere!-- use quotation marks when they don't have to be used. They're used for dialogue, right? For quoting people. Or for titles. They're not just for random words in a sentence.

I'm kind of a grammar Nazi. I'll admit it. But, really, seriously, who thought it would be a good idea to put the word "like" in quotation marks? Here's a sentence I saw on Facebook today (that God awful social media site that makes me hate a lot of things, but has me too addicted to quit): 'I "like" the new update so far.'

Why? Why do you "like" it and not just like it? What does it mean? What's going on?!

It drives me up a wall.

And what's worse, is when someone, a lame boss, perhaps, is talking, and he or she picks up her fingers and makes air quotes around a random word.

Because, notice, air quotes never go around things that people actually said. Nobody is air-quoting: "So, I was like, yeah, and she was like, right."

No. Air quotes go around things like: "I hope you like your 'new desk'" or "We've been 'watching' what you're doing."

With an overly-cheerful tone and a fake smile.

And maybe those are bad examples. But, forgive me, I've stopped paying attention to anything anyone who utilizes the horrific art of air quotes said a long, long time ago.

But anyway, we're facing a horrible pandemic here in the US. The overuse, wrong use of quotation marks. And if anyone can tell me why this is, I'll be very, very happy.

But until then, I'm going to "go insane."

Driving

Driving sucks.

That's all there is to it. I hate it so much. Sure, it can get you where you want to go. And in all the places I've ever lived in the US, it's basically a necessity. The towns are always too spread out to do anything but drive if you want to make any good time at all and get to where you're going. But I still hate it.

I've always hated driving. I love being outside, and when I'm in a car, I feel like I'm missing so much. Just think about it: if you walk some place, you notice so much more than if you drive. 

I spent four months living in London, and I walked everywhere or took public transportation. And it was so relaxing! Because I didn't have to worry about ever getting in a car, starting it up, paying for gas, driving with other crazy drivers, or figuring out driving directions. 

All I had to worry about was walking or sitting in a seat and being taken where I wanted to go. And I got to see everything. I got to feel fresh air, even if, most of the time, it was freezing cold. I got to feel rain, even though, most of the time it was also freezing cold. And wet. Very wet. But I wouldn't change it for the world. 
 
Driving is so distant. There's so much metal and rubber and glass in the way of everything else. And sitting in traffic is horrible. The only good thing about driving is listening to music. But that's not even an excuse, because I have an iPod and headphones. 

And sure, when you're in a car, you can belt out the music and dance around like a crazy person. But you can also do that while walking down the street. 

It might be a little stranger, but you can still do it.

So I'm glad I have a car and I'm glad I have the ability to drive. 

But if the whole world wanted to shrink itself and compress a little or if anyone wanted to build an awesome system of public transportation everywhere, then I'd be eternally grateful. 

Because I really, truly don't want to spend my entire life alone in a car, stuck in traffic.