One of my greatest bug bears is the use, or rather abuse, of
the exclamation mark. I cannot believe that so many people are
that excited about life.
‘Same here!’, ‘So cute!’ and ‘Me too!’ are acceptable,
occasionally.
But are ‘He loves the company!’, ‘Amazing!!!!’, ‘They are little
cup cakes! Baby ones!’ and ‘Took it to school today!’ really necessary? These
are real life examples and they drive me nuts!
In this day and age of emoticons to convey your pleasure (or
a host of other emotions) at a statement, do we really need to resort to
shouting every time we communicate? Because, traditionally, that’s what an
exclamation mark means – a raised voice, or a vehement command (according to
Collins). So, in the example of the cupcakes, what’s really being communicated
is that ‘They are little cupcakes, dammit. Freaking baby ones. How many more
ways can I say this to make you understand that they are not regular sized cupcakes?
I know she didn't mean it like that – she was excited to tell
the world that she had made little cupcakes – but it’s how it reads to me.
For those of you who just love to pepper your writing with
these little darlings, I want you to think of them as an endangered species. There
are only a few thousand exclamation marks roaming the wilds and no captive
breeding programme has been successful in increasing their numbers. So every
time you use one, you rip a poor little mark out of the wild and reduce the population.
And soon there will no more exclamation marks left, which means that children
will never be told to "Stop it right now!" No woman will experience her heart
beating like a bongo drum at Mr Swoon-worthy’s marriage proposal!
Please, please, join my cause to save the exclamation mark
from abuse and eventual extinction. Think carefully before taking a poor mark
away from its loving family. And when you douse it, for we all know that it’s going
to happen, make sure it’s a worthwhile move.
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