smylers:

You're right, of course. I, especially, should not fall into a regionalistic trap like that. but, on the other hand, I will cheerfully risk begin viewed as "pretentious" if that's the result of an effort to communicate clearly, in the language of the listener or reader.

But, for my info, how does UK-English distinguish among parens, squarebrackets, angle-brackets and curly-brackets? (others offering distinctive regionalisms or national-useages encouraged too!)

and, for what LITTLE it's worth, I do not recall hearing (as a child in Edinburgh) any teacher referring to "" as speech-marks.