"controversial": Others called it controversial. I did/would not.
"against the grain": Others thought that there was a grain. I did/would not.
"real time": Not literal.
Maybe this is a regional/age thing?
edit: actually, asking ChatGPT why they're in quotes gives the similar answers as mine, so I guess it's not too odd. New session prompt with 4.0: "Why are some of these words in quotes?"
Fluff removed, same order as my answers:
> ... In this case, "controversial" could imply that the speaker doesn't personally find the topics controversial, but acknowledges that others may perceive them as such.
> ... indicating that it's being used in its typical idiomatic sense.
> ... Here, the quotation marks might be used to stress that the term isn't being used in its strictest sense.