I saw this as a slogan in an episode of Drop the Dead Donkey and just wanted to know why were quotes needed on the word synergise:
Let nowness "synergise" with excellence.
I think it makes sense to take the quote off.
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2They are called scare quotes. – Andrew Leach Sep 01 '14 at 08:46
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4They could profitably be dropped. But then, in most circumstances, so could the whole sentence. – Edwin Ashworth Sep 01 '14 at 08:51
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Edwin - hee hee :) – Fattie Sep 01 '14 at 09:55
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1sa1 - they idicate sarcasm -- often like "air quotes" (google up a video if you don't know what those are) – Fattie Sep 01 '14 at 09:56
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Scare quotes or shudder quotes are quotation marks placed around a word or phrase to imply that it may not signify its apparent meaning or that it is not necessarily the way the quoting person would express its concept.
-- Wikipedia
You could get rid of them if you wanted. What the author is saying is it "synergise"s with excellence, but are trying to imply a sarcastic tone.
The phrase is similar to "accelerate success" and "accentuate choice" - marketing speak, and pretty meaningless.
Tim
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2exactly - in fact you could put quotes round "nowness" as well, they are both management-speak, i.e. pretty meaningless! – Purple Helen Sep 01 '14 at 10:33