Quotation Marks

While trying to decide on a topic for my first Alphabe-Thursday, I came up with a few possibilities. Then something interesting happened.

I came across The "Blog" of "Unnecessary" Quotation Marks recently while trying to figure out why some people put quotation marks around the names of pets. The last paragraph of Marinka's comment is the reason it showed up in the search engine, and it's a good one.

All I can figure is that people who do this think it isn't the pet's real name. For example, Sir Barks-a-Lot of the Waggy Tail might be affectionately called "Waggy" or "Barkie," complete with quotation marks. I can understand this; I don't agree with it, but at least I understand it.

However, this theory breaks down when a pet already has a simple name, such as Jasper. Even if that's his whole name (other than the owner's last name), the same people who would use quotes for Sir Barks-a-Lot would also use them with Jasper.

Why use quotes with animals but not with people? If Ellie, Kenny, Angie, and Mike are pets, they'll often end up with quotation marks around their names. If they're people, that's unlikely to happen.