What does air quotes mean?

Answer 1

Quotation marks around a word or phrase are often a little joke between the writer and the reader, to the effect that the word or phrase does not really mean what it is supposed to mean. When read aloud, such quotation marks are properly pronounced so-called, as in "compassionate" Conservative. In speech, however, instead of saying "so-called", some people hold up their hands with two fingers slightly curved inward, to indicate quotation marks while speaking the word or phrase. These are air quotes.