Does anybody else hate exclamation marks?

Page 1 of 2 [ 17 posts ] Go to page 1, 2 Next

Previous topic | Next topic

treblecake
Velociraptor

Joined: 12 May 2012
Age: 29
Gender: Female
Posts: 433
Location: Australia

26 Oct 2012, 10:55 am

I don't know why but I've always hated them. They just seem so menacing, I never use them when write/type.

_________________
Your Aspie score: 157 of 200
Your neurotypical (non-autistic) score: 38 of 200
You are very likely an Aspie

EnglishJess
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 18 Dec 2011
Gender: Female
Posts: 5,280
Location: Somewhere Else

26 Oct 2012, 11:02 am

I am very shouty and I like them a lot.

TallyMan
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 30 Mar 2008
Gender: Male
Posts: 40,061

26 Oct 2012, 11:06 am

! !! Really? :!:

_________________
I've left WP indefinitely.

Trencher93
Velociraptor

Joined: 23 Jun 2008
Age: 125
Gender: Male
Posts: 464

26 Oct 2012, 11:28 am

Exclamation marks should be used sparingly in writing, if at all. The more they appear, the less impact they have. Spammers using three!! ! exclamation marks for emphasis are the ultimate example, but most good writing does not have them at all.

Did Shelby Foote use a single exclamation mark in his three Civil War volumes? I can't remember one.

Tolkien used them rarely, usually in quoted speech to convey tone. ("Take care, I don't care!") He did not use them in narration that I can remember.

treblecake
Velociraptor

Joined: 12 May 2012
Age: 29
Gender: Female
Posts: 433
Location: Australia

26 Oct 2012, 11:32 am

Trencher93 wrote:

Yeah they can be tacky.

_________________
Your Aspie score: 157 of 200
Your neurotypical (non-autistic) score: 38 of 200
You are very likely an Aspie

One-Winged-Angel
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 21 Sep 2006
Age: 32
Gender: Male
Posts: 10,860
Location: Under your bed, in your closet, in your head

26 Oct 2012, 11:34 am

Exclamation points are great when they're put on the end of an exclamation. Unfortunately, a lot of people like to put three or more on the end of every other sentence, like the volume control for their voice is broken. Overuse of any form of punctuation is very annoying to me, especially people who think that every time the letter "S" is the last in a word it needs to be preceded by an apostrophe.

_________________
You have your way. I have my way. As for the right way, the correct way, and the only way, it does not exist.

ianorlin
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 22 Oct 2012
Age: 33
Gender: Male
Posts: 756

26 Oct 2012, 1:43 pm

I can't think of a time when using more than one exclamation point is right other than double factorial function in math but that is just two and should be obvious what it is.