Posted February 10, 2015

 

As a professional communicator who speaks to you through the written word, I want to use this space this week to make a point. Actually, an exclamation point. It’s a subject that’s been discussed, debated and dissertated since its origins in the Middle Ages. How often should it be used? When should it be used? When is it inappropriate to use? Ever?

 

Now, before you click off the page, bear with me. We’re not all grammarians, But to some extent, we’re all communicators. We write emails, letters, notes and social media posts dozens of times a day, so let’s take a moment to hash over this oft-maligned symbol. We all know what an exclamation mark means: to indicate strong feelings or high volume for an aforementioned statement. But have you ever consciously given it a second thought when you’ve written it? I know I have. I tend to use it in response to someone who includes one in a correspondence as a way to show I’m equally elated over the subject matter. You don’t use one, I won’t. You use one, I will. You go overboard on its usage, though, and I still use only one. Two, max.

 

I had an English professor in college who allotted us three exclamation marks – in our entire lifetime. I assumed he meant for us to save them for something very important, such as a birth, a death or a Wolfpack national championship. A fellow student in that class, who remains a friend to this day, took the good prof’s advice to heart and, I can honestly say, I’ve never seen an exclamation point in his writings – and I’ve read all three of his books and most of his Facebook posts. He's apparently allergic to them – which makes me wonder if he even uses one when it’s really called for, such as when he types the word, “achoo!” Similarly, the great F. Scott Fitzgerald even chimed in on this subject: “Cut out all these exclamation points. An exclamation point is like laughing at your own jokes.”

 

Perhaps I’m overthinking these puffed up punctuation marks. But I think they serve a purpose – when used sparingly (i.e. no more than twice in one correspondence but more than three times in a lifetime. And never, ever multiple times after one word). You may have noticed that I rarely use them when writing editorial content for these pages. For one, I don’t want to come across as a screamer. For another, I don’t want to over-emphasize the importance of something by adding that jubilant jolt at the end. But email is a different story – especially when using the valediction “thank you!” To me, that added exclamation point expresses a deeper appreciation for the person’s note, deed, help, etc. Otherwise, it runs the risk of coming across as curt or brusque (depending on the message before it). Imagine getting this response to an email: “I can’t see you next week.” Unless I know you well, that pithy reply makes me wonder: Hmmm … was my email too forward? Too assuming? Off-putting at all?