MetaChat - Is this pretentious?

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20 September 2007

Is this pretentious? →[More:]I always feel that whenever I italicize a word, like how I've done in the above post, it just feels like I'm going overboard sometimes. On the other hand, don't titles NEED to be italicized? (Also, I sometimes feel that Italics are good for using when you have some kind of expression to put forth, like I really like that shirt.

post by: hadjiboy at: 23:46 | 15 comments

Pretentious? No. Legible? Yes. Titles should be italicized. And italics are great for adding emphasis.

The great and powerful OZ has spoken.

posted by bmarkey 20 September | 23:51

It's not pretentious, but a lot of people don't bother with the formality on sites like MeCha. Some people put film titles in quotes instead of italics (eg, "The Bourne Ultimatum").

posted by me3dia 20 September | 23:51

I wouldn't read that as pretentious.

It's the way you stick your little finger out when you drink tea with a slice of lemon that makes me raise an eyebrow.

posted by gomichild 21 September | 00:13

I like it when people pay attention to that stuff. But that's me. My mom was an english teacher & stuff.

posted by miss lynnster 21 September | 00:20

This is pretentious; semicolons are as well.

posted by mischief 21 September | 00:39

You'll pry my pretentious semicolons from cold, dead parentheses, you colon.

posted by taz 21 September | 01:58

I don't read it as pretentious. Do it however you want to - nobody on this site is going to give you any crap about it.

posted by fluffy battle kitten 21 September | 08:29

If it's pretense, it's pretentious. Otherwise, it isn't.

People who call things pretentious are admitting that, were they to do or say these things, it would be pretentious. Sometimes they're right about others, but they're always right about themselves.

posted by Hugh Janus 21 September | 09:06

It's unavoidable--things that one person will read as affected or pretentious or whatnot, another person will read as simply correct. Maybe they're both right.

Wait, that's pretty much what Hugh said. He's a good man, that Hugh.

posted by box 21 September | 10:00

I clicked the link before reading your More and didn't see anything at all to be pretenious about; in fact, I'm not sure semicolons are pretentious either.

(Really? Semucolons are pretentious? Why is that?)

posted by Doohickie 21 September | 11:23

Damn. I previewed too. :(

posted by Doohickie 21 September | 11:24

What are you SUPPOSED to do with your pinkie when you're drinking tea? It just sticks out all by itself!

This is why I now drink all my tea from a ceramic beer stein. OK. Not really. I just like the beer stein.

posted by small_ruminant 21 September | 12:06

Proper, not pretentious.

posted by deborah 21 September | 14:16

If semicolons are pretentious, then I don't want to be sensible.

posted by rhapsodie 21 September | 16:14

The only thing that I ask is that if someone adheres to a stylebook (not everyone does italic titles, as many newspapers, at least prior to using electronic typesetting, couldn't run italics) that they remain consistent with it. My old mag made me italicize album titles and movie titles, but not song titles, so that's what I tend to stick with. But I get sloppy sometimes.

posted by klangklangston 21 September | 18:30

← Dirty vodka martinis suck. || Bump →

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