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This drives me insane - and I can't explain why

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Tova:
I really didn’t know where to put this. But I had to post it somewhere because this drives me insane.

Then I rediscovered this thread.



thishasbeenacommunityserviceannouncement

Thank you.

jwhouk:
My suggestion?

Don't worry about it!

LTK:
That rule seems to be more suited to writing textbooks or biographies. For casual use, exclamation marks are so versatile and expressive that it'd be foolish not to use them to their full potential.

Consider, for example, someone asking "Should I be concerned that my friends don't like me?" in text form. If I answered "Not at all." then it appears businesslike, almost dismissive. If I wanted to add emphasis like italics, "Not at all." seems more like admonition than assurance. But an exclamation mark gives it a brotherly, reassuring tone. "Not at all! Don't be silly! No worries!" (Helpfully illustrated by jwhouk while I was writing this.) It helps a lot given that tone is already hard to convey through text.

Also, you can use it to convey sarcasm or irony. The incongruity of an exclamation mark on a seemingly regular statement alerts readers that there might be something more to it. "It's a good thing there are prescriptivists around to tell me when I'm using language wrong, otherwise I wouldn't know what to do!"

And, believe it or not, it even does the opposite! Statements often read as sarcastic like "Oh, that's great." can be ridden of their tonal baggage just by adding an exclamation mark. "Oh, good for you! Thanks, I love it!" Truly, the possibilities are myriad.

Cornelius:
You know, with writing, it is extremely important to know all of the rules. All of them. And then to creatively abuse or ignore most of them.

Tova:
Just to be clear: I'm merely expressing my exasperation at gratuitous overuse of exclamation marks, not trying to suggest everyone should strictly follow exclamation-mark rules.

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