Legend has it that exiled in Guernsey during the 1860s and desperate to find out how his new novel Les Miserables was selling, the author Victor Hugo sent a telegram to his publisher bearing a single symbol: “?” His equally frugal publisher replied “!”
Today, the exclamation mark is hardly known for its witty use. In fact, it has the dubious distinction of being the only form of punctuation that’s actively discouraged by newspapers. In newsrooms the exclamation mark is commonly known as a ‘screamer’, ‘gasper’ or ‘startler’ while, so I’m told, those tabloid sub-editors that still exist rather more colourfully call it ‘a dog’s dick’.
Exclamation marks save lives!
Yes, really. Think about it: there is a world of difference between “Duck” and “Duck!”
Used sparingly, exclamation marks convey urgency: “Help me!”, “Fire!”, “Get out!”, “Run!” and many more potentially lifesaving instructions.
It is true that overuse – particularly on social media – has given the exclamation mark a bad name but, nonetheless, it has a surprisingly wide range of legitimate uses. For example, it’s difficult to imagine the following examples conveying anything like the same force and feeling without the punctuation marks:
|
You b*stard! |
WTF! |
What a mess! |
Great news! |
Well done! |
Before the advent of emoticons and emojis, exclamation marks were one of the few ways of conveying emotions such as:
|
Excitement |
That’s wonderful! |
|
Anger |
You must be out of your tiny mind! |
|
Scorn |
You must be joking! |
|
Irony |
And you said we wouldn’t win! |
|
Expletives |
S*@t! |
|
Reverse meaning |
Thanks a lot! |
|
Commands |
Get out of here right now! |
All the above examples would be somewhat flat without the accompanying punctuation mark.
Prolific offender
Most criticism of the exclamation mark stems from it being overused. Here, the 45th President of the United States is a major culprit.
According to the Trump Twitter Archive, in 2016 alone the @realDonaldTrump posted 2,251 tweets that contained exclamation marks. In an article for the BBC, writer Philip Cowell points out that “exclamation points (the US terminology) are being issued more frequently than executive orders”, which means in the 100 tweets analysed President Trump used exclamation marks in all but 32 of them – that’s a 68% likelihood of signing off a tweet with a shriek.
In a fascinating article by Caitlin Dewey for The Washington Post, the journalist notes that this is twice the rate of the average Twitter user.
In the example below, Donald Trump manages to commit three cardinal sins in one short tweet: 1) the excitable exclamation mark 2) the shouty tone expressed by overuse of capital letters and, last but not least, the incorrect spelling of “judgment”.
This typical tweet by President Donald Trump shows his fondness for exclamation marks.
Top tip
Always think twice before using a punctuation mark – and think twenty times before using several at the same time!
If you’d like advice on improving your company’s messaging, get in touch!
