It is almost trivial to implement \quote{this}, but do you really expect that it will be used by the authors, typing a LaTeX script? Compare: "this" ``this'' \quote{this} in length, sophistication, and error checking. IMO, the Knuthian commands are just right -- not too long and not shortened into cryptical acronyms. LaTeX2e is already on the way to go overboard on command length, I am not very fond of all the commands prefixed by \text... Too long commands encourage the authors to come up with their own, incompatible abbreviations. It makes processing LaTeX documents on a large scale more difficult. --J"org Knappen