>>how is copying different from "copying" and what's the other meaning of copying, you know, the meaning it takes when spoken with a wink. Ditto for backup vs "backup".
Agree quotation marks should not be used just for emphasis. Use asterisks. ;-) But I do use quotation marks for irony or to highlight misuse of a word, especially to avoid the dated (sic).
I think "copying" might be used when somebody insists they "copied" from elsewhere when in fact they've paraphrased/twisted to fit their own narrative. "Backup" might be used if somebody "backs up" onto the same hard drive or machine and loses both copies. If that's what you mean by "with a wink" then that's definitely a viable use.
"... They ne'er cared for us
yet: suffer us to famish, and their store-houses
crammed with grain; make edicts for usury, to
support usurers; repeal daily any wholesome act
established against the rich, and provide more
piercing statutes daily, to chain up and restrain
the poor. If the wars eat us not up, they will; and
there's all the love they bear us."
-- Shakespeare: Coriolanus, Act 1, scene 1
