It is a colloquialism, for goodness' sakes, guys. It is the slang equivalent of "so-called", or "self-styled", or "alleged" or other sarcastic cross-references. It is just a figure of speech. If it were meant literally, it would of course be typographically incorrect, but it isn't -- it's a rhetorical device!

I once had a project manager who was fond of enunicating the word "comma" when he was inserting a modifying clause or a parenthetical remark in his verbal stream. He would say, "And comma just by the way, they had no authorization to spend the money"... as though he were typing. It was very funny to listen to at first but once we got used to it, it was just a rhetorical quirk and in fact made it easier to understand him. Despite its contravention of purist literary or typographical rules, it was nothing to get bent out of shape over.

Don't get your knickers in a quote unquote twist, mates. :D



A