Q. I am unclear on when to put a term following “known as” in quotation marks. I searched CMOS online and saw what seemed like conflicting styles in the search results, but perhaps there is an obvious guideline I am not picking up on. For example, paragraph 3.60 says, “The left-hand column of a table, known as the stub,” and 3.4 has “Artwork consisting of solid black on a white background . . . is traditionally known as line art” (no quotation marks around “the stub” or “line art”). But 2.115 says, “The proofreader must mark only the proofs, never the manuscript, which is now known as ‘dead’ or ‘foul’ copy” (with quotation marks), and 8.62 has “the cheese known as Gruyère (lowercased in previous editions of this manual) is not always from the district in Switzerland” (with italics). My sentence is “One technique, known as resist ware, gives vessels a vibrant texture.” Quotation marks around “resist ware” or no?
A. Use your judgment. The more unlikely a word is to be known to your reader, the more appropriate the quotation marks or italics. Likewise for terms that may be misunderstood if not set off from the rest of the sentence. There’s no rule that will fit every circumstance. See also CMOS 7.66.