No more. I insist. I can't bear it anymore. This is entirely subjective: I hate exclamation marks in the same way that I hate celery, cucumber, that idiot Jeff who went out with Jade Goody, and the word "pardon".
I know it's illogical. I know they're greatly loved. In Spain you get two, even if one is upside down. I know they're on everything, from packets of food ("Eat Well!"), to pieces of correspondence from the local council ("You may be wondering about the new parking restrictions in your area!"), but it has to stop. Exclamation marks don't even get a mention in The Economist Style Guide which means The Economist doesn't use them, or think they're even worthy of a mention. People who work with copy a lot (journalists and copywriters, for example), call them 'screamers'. Although a lot of those types talk bollocks quite a lot of the time, they're right about that: exclamation marks are the written equivalent of raising your voice at the end of a sentence, shouting, or laughing at your own jokes (which I do a lot, mind you, so I'm hardly one to judge).
They're OK when you're being ironic, but even then their success isn't guaranteed. I know I'm a snob. I know I've probably offended half the people who comment on this blog (and please don't stop). And I'm sorry. But if I see another exclamation mark, I'm going to kill someone! And I'm not joking.
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14 comments:
*GASPS* You hate them so much you had to write the post twice?
I may sulk and not comment now...I LOVE exlamation marks, and I love my own jokes too. *wanders off sniffing*
Interesting that you bring this up, o simian one. Sounds anal, but every time I type one, I look back over the sentence and think, did I really need to put in an exclamation mark there?!?!?!?!?!
I try to restrict my use of them to when I'm being sarcastic, when it's (hopefully) obvious that they aren't necessary.
Nine times out of ten I take it back out. Deadpan FTW!
I also typo'd cos I was so traumatised *wails even more loudly* - yes I can spell "exclamation marks"!!!!!
Oh god M I'm sorry. One is fine, here and there. Honest guv.
As for posting it twice - proof, if we needed it, that I am an idiot. Oh, and I've just snapped at someone I'm very fond of so it's not just Users of Exclamation Marks who are gettin' it in the neck today. That'll teach me to go away for the weekend and realise how rubbish London is.
Kav, what's FTW? Am I being a spaz? I use them when I'm being sarcastic too, i.e. every 5 seconds, so I really haven't got a leg to stand on.
Oh, apologies, it's teen internet code for "for the win".
As in: "Glamour magazine says brown cords are really in this winter."
Teenage girl's response: "Yay! Brown cords FTW!"
I was using it sarcastically, because it's shit. Hence the exclamation mark.
I tend to think that I never use them and then after a rant at their worthlessness (happens about monthly I should think) I'll notice a smattering in the next email I write. (Mostly following the word "hurrah").
But at least I only ever use them singly. It's when they start hanging around in gangs that I really can't stand them (often after the word "awesome"... probably all in CAPITAL LETTERS and with a "DUDE" somewhere close by.
Oh I feel old now.
How do you feel about ellipses (as in plural of ellipsis rather than plural of ellipse)? I have the bad habit of overusing those when I'm writing /thinking lazily.
Kav - I hear ya. Like 'on-trend', but for teenagers.
Dave - I am the same. I use them, thinking I am being sarcastic, and get carried away. I can't remember what an ellipse is. That's sad.
An ellipsis (of which I was speaking is "..."
I have just proven my own middle aged, middle class rant about 'children nowadays don't know how to spell transubstantiation', blah blah, yawn.
I think they are lazy ... but somehow also useful ... in a very fucking irritating way ... like you're trying to show that you're thinking out loud but just end up ... looking a bit ...
Sorry. Forgot what i was going to say.
Your Admirer
NWM
Apologies, by the way, for the lone parenthesis in the previous post. I must have lost its partner on the way home from the pub.
Dave Shelton, I think less of you for forgetting to close your parentheses. In fact forgetting punctuation at all is a crime worse all of them
I don't mind an exclamation mark now and again, but I'm only too aware that I use too many of them. I guess that's what comes of reading too many comics as a kid/young adult. Every sentence in comics is apparently worthy of an exclamation mark.
Those superheroes must always be shouting at one another. Like as though they're not intimidating enough, what with all their powers and stuff.
As an ex-copywriter, I can attest to calling them "screamers". My colleagues loved screamers. Sad that so many ad people think the best way to sell you something is to scream at you.
Dave: Big fan of ellipses--not to mention dashes, semicolons, and peppering extra conjunctions wherever they fit. They suggest ideas are falling out of one's head or mouth at a fast clip. But one shouldn't over-use them.
The admirable NWM avoids these devices, and her prose sounds measured, thoughtful, and relaxed. A fine way to tell us that her life has developed a slower pace. There's no way to rush the pleasure of reading her. She's a little prose oasis.
I say, headbang8! "A little prose oasis"! How splendid! Very kind.
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