How and When to Use "Quotation Marks".

Punctuation is tricky.  For the most part, commas and periods are simply used to provide or indicate structure in a syntactic unit (end of sentence, here be a dependent clause, now begins a list of items, etc.).  Quotation marks (or, as I've been taught to call them, inverted commas) have some interesting uses quite outside the context of syntax.  One may assume on a priori grounds that quotation marks are used to indicate quotations--and they are.  Nevertheless, they also have rhetorical use that sometimes goes unnoticed.  When one uses inverted commas in writing apart from referring to a text, we call these 'scare quotes'.  They generally make a point--sometimes it is irony, sometimes satire or sarcasm.  "Oh sure, you're an 'efficient' worker", likely means you are not efficient, or you are efficient in a way that is irrelevant.  It is important for journalists, editors and bloggers to understand this important usage.  Think Progress understands this:

As does Breitbarts's John Nolte:

ABC News, however, demonstrates a failure to understand when it is necessary to use quotation marks.  It seems likely they are actually quoting Twitter engineers.  Nevertheless, no one would doubt the veracity of the statement to such a degree that he might feel it necessary to call a Twitter spokesman to confirm they they are working to "resolve issue"--notice that the quote makes it seem that Twitter is employing a team of Cro-magnon men in their engineering department.  Because the inverted commas seem so out of place, one would easily read them as scare quotes--in which case the real meaning of the ABC tweet is "Engineers at Twitter smoking a blunt and macking on cool Ranch Doritos while you swear at your computer screen."  Though I have to admit, that does seem more likely than that they employ Neanderthals.