You Said What?
Italics rock. They can change the whole meaning of a sentence and they don’t even do anything. What actually are they? I speak OK English some and I don’t know.
Are they punctuaton? Are they an inflection? Maybe they aren’t either of these things.
Maybe they just are.
Think about Anne Bancroft delivering the line to Dustin Hoffman in The Graduate when she says:
“Would you like me to seduce you?”
It’s a sultry retort, a sassy comeback full of suggestive challenge. But get a little Cntl+i action in there and you’ve got a whole new meaning.
“Would you like me to seduce you?” Find someone else, you slut. I’m not that easy. And why wasn’t I your first choice?
“Would you like me to seduce you?” If there’s no one else available, yes please.
“Would you like me to seduce you?” They really go the extra mile here with the service, don’t they?