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 3.59 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 2.110 says, “The proofreader must mark only the proofs, never the manuscript, which is now known as ‘dead’ or ‘foul’ copy,” and 8.61 has “For example, the cheese known as ‘gruyère’ takes its name from a district in Switzerland” (with quotation marks around the terms). 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. 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.