For one University graduate student, the topic up for discussion is just “grammatically incorrect.”

Launched in July of 2005, Bethany Keeley’s “The ‘Blog’ of ‘Unnecessary’ Quotation Marks” is a pictorial of misused and abused quotation marks.

Case in point, a restaurant sign indicating “‘Live’ Lobsters” — are they animatronic? Pre-recorded? Only mostly-dead? Or performing a musical number without the benefit of lip-syncing?

The success of Bethany Keeley’s blog focusing on comical misuses of punctuation marks led to her new book. Photo by MELISSA KEELEY.

It’s difficult to tell. The sign is just gosh darn intriguing.

And that is just a pinch of the content on Keeley’s blog.

“I started just when I finished college,” Keeley said. “Camera phones were just coming out so [capturing the images] would be easier. [I thought] it would be something for just a few of my friends.”

Now a part of the BlogHer Publishing Network, a directory of more than 25,000 blogs for women, Keeley’s website is supported by advertising and its content driven by reader submissions.

“Some [people] save them up and send me 10 in an e-mail.” Keeley said. “I have gotten things in Hebrew, [from] Central and South America, Scandinavia [but] mostly English speaking countries.

This July, “The Book ‘Unnecessary’ Quotation Marks” was published in print by Chronicle Books.

With its publication, Keeley self-fulfilled her own superlative. “In my high school class I campaigned for Most Likely to Publish a Book,” she said.

In the book’s introduction, Keeley outlines the usages of quotation marks: nickname, title, euphemism, slang, pun, turn of phrase, code, insincerity and sarcasm. Or, for the uncreative, a quote – you know, words famous people said.

Still, “sometimes quotation marks are simply part of the insane scribblings of a deranged mind, or have symbolism that is meaningful only to the writer and the other voices in their head.”

In short, misused quotation marks may just be a “symptom of descent into madness.”

The transition of “Unnecessary Quotes” from blog to book was a long time coming.

“I was approached by a few agents,” Keeley said. “[But with] grad school it took awhile to get a book proposal completed.”

While the demand of daily blog posts and graduate coursework is hectic, Keeley remains a fan of her work.

“I have fun. The jokes get occasionally old but I do get paid — without the ad revenue I may have given it up.” Keeley said.

At a time when bloggers such as Perez Hilton have built what amounts to a digital empire, fame for Keeley is not the goal or the endgame, she has been recognized only once.

“I’ve been an awkward fan before; it’s flattering to have someone recognize you,” Keeley said.

University students interested in pursuing their own blog-turned-book deal should take note that patience and point-of-view matter.

“You can’t predict what will be popular or how long it’ll take to take off,” Keeley said. “Do stuff that you’re interested in yourself.