If you look at about half the comments in this subthread (including the grandpar...

chc on Jan 8, 2011 | parent | context | favorite | on: Princeton Grad Student And 'Brilliant' Programmer,...

If you look at about half the comments in this subthread (including the grandparent of yours), you would see that these are not scare quotes — they're the normal kind of quotes, which indicate a quotation.