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UNI-006 · Quotes

“ ”

The curves that open and close a quotation — the straight key flattened both.

The typewriter had a single key, so the straight quote came to both open and close. Typography always had two gems: “ (U+201C) opens, ” (U+201D) closes, each curved its own way.

Word processors swap them for you — that's smart quotes — but raw HTML, code and forms don't. The entities are “ and ”; the label carries the shortcuts.

Wrong:  "Quote properly", asked the typographer.
Right:  “Quote properly”, asked the typographer.
The straight one belongs to the typewriter; the curves, to typography.