Correct usage of the q element

Hello,

I'm unsure about how to use the q element correctly in HTML 4.01 or 
XHTML 1.1. The HTML 4.01 spec says in section 9.2.2:

"[...] and Q is intended for short quotations (inline content) that 
don't require paragraph breaks."

So I know that it's correct to write

<q>[...] and Q is intended for short quotations (inline content) that 
don't require paragraph breaks.</q>

or something like

<p>She said: <q>Hello!</q></p>


But I don't understand whether it is defined as a quotation if I have 
something like

<p>This year, the theme is <q?>Welcome to the world of foo</q?>.</p>

because it's not a real quotation of a person or a book, but something 
that was just made up.

<p>We call it <q>Robodog</q>.</p>

is a quotation, because people use this term to refer to something.


And what about

<p>He looked ... ummm... <q?>strange</q?>&mdash;you know, with all that 
<q?>things&ndash;that&ndash;look&ndash;like&ndash;plants</q?> on his 
hat.</p>

?
In these cases, I am using a certain word, but don't really mean it. Or 
I don't know a better word to describe something. But this isn't really 
a quotation, is it?


Hope that someone can enlighten me a bit.

Thanks,
-- 
Nico