In defence of the exclamation point!

Plenty has been said since time immemorial about exclamation points and their place in language (yes I went to ‘time immemorial’ to make my point!). Primarily negative. And I get it. I really do. Over indulgence in anything leaves you with a sick, yucky feeling of unfulfilment, no matter which end of the binge you’re on. Like you haven’t got what you were after.

But… (you knew there was a but didn’t you?) like many other things, the shame of the crime seems to have been attributed to the wrong party. I’m pretty sure it’s not the exclamation point itself that anyone is taking issue with. Rather, it’s sometimes over, and sometimes inappropriate, use. What I find happening, though, is that people have started to step away from it like its something that smells. Or a drug… ‘Keep it away from me; if I take one hit I'll be tempted to take more’ on the one hand. And snooty grammatical superiority on the other. The rest being shades between those two polarizing views.

I myself am a massive fan of the exclamation point! Very little can convey emotion so succinctly. I’m happy! Sad! Surprised!! Excited!!

It’s awesome!!! It really is.

And I’m very guilty, very often, of over use. I have no defense. Except love.

But, if I were to attempt a justification for its rampant visibility, what would I say?

I’d say the way we communicate has changed massively.

We now have to unload the contents of our minds in 140 characters. We have to caption an image cleverly to enhance the 1000 words it’s already worth. And even when we have reams of room, nobody has the time or inclination to plough through volumes. So we cut. And we chop. And we embellish. Often with the exclamation point.

Cut the exclamation point some slack. It’s an incredibly useful tool. Especially in today’s content scenarios. Use it wise; use it clean. And it will reel your readers back in for more. Every time.