"Taken out of context"

[MAJA*]

Hi!
I´m reading an english book now and the author was make a quote and then I´ve read "It was taken out of context".
What is that exactly meaning with "taken out..."?(I´m german...so);)

[kathycf]

Hi there and welcome. :)

When a comment or quote is taken out of context, it means it may mean one thing amongst other things the speaker or writer has said, but the meaning changes when the quote is just on it's own. For example if I wrote a paper which said something like:

"All men are jerks. Not to me of course but that is what some narrow minded women say"

Somebody could then take one part of that statement and quote me as saying
"Kathy wrote that all men are jerks". Well, yes I did say that, but because they left out the rest of what I wrote the original meaning of what I wrote was twisted. People may quote something out of context to lend weight to a weak argument they are making, twist meanings or it could be an innocent error. That is why you should always check your facts before quoting something. I hope that helps a little bit.

[Jean-Baptiste]

Welcome to the forums, Maja!

It means that the quote was originally intended to mean something specific that was explained by the words or statements around it, but they took it away from those words or sentences, and the quote on its own does not mean the same thing that the author intended. It's a way of making it seem that the author said something that they didn't say. Like if I said "I think about children all the time, and wonder how their lives can be improved," but someone quoted me as only saying "I think about children all the time," it would mean something completely different than what I originally intended. It would make me seem like a pedophile instead of a benefactor. That is what being taken out of context means.

Oops. Kathy beat me to it. Oh, well.

[MAJA*]

Thank you very much!!!