Post: #1

Thought this was an interesting little food-for-thought piece for those of us who care about the craft of writing. (Frankly, I consider any regular poster in this forum in that camp, since most people don't write anything but texts all day.)

Needless to say, a man wrote it. Women--whether teens or grown-up professionals--tend to be the worst violators, in my observation. No group, however, is immune.

Quote:The overuse of exclamation points!
By Christopher Muther

I can still remember the pact I made with a co-worker five years ago. We began to notice an alarming increase in the number of exclamation points crammed into e-mails and text messages. False enthusiasm was giving us a headache. The English language had taken enough of a beating, and there was no need for this kind of sucker punch. We would have no part of it.

The problem was that nearly every e-mail I received ended with an overzealous “Thanks!” E-mails and texts cheerfully chimed “Can’t wait to see you!,” and I recall more than a few “How are you!” e-mails. Since when did an exclamation point wrestle a helpless question mark into submission?

(continues at link in title)

Post: #2

(07-24-2012 08:43 PM)Tuthmosis Wrote:  Needless to say, a man wrote it. Women--whether teens or grown-up professionals--tend to be the worst violators, in my observation. No group, however, is immune.

Haven't noticed much difference between men and women. And a woman wrote the modern canonical book on this.

That said, women do use exclamation points excessively more often than men do. I try to avoid using them, and rewording my sentences as needed instead.