I like to communicate, which mostly means writing, and as a writer I have a love-hate relationship with punctuation. Well, I don't exactly hate it, it's more of a love-uncomfortable feeling relationship.
I know where to use a period to end a sentence but the rest of it is pretty much up for grabs. I like to think I know where to put a semi-colon (other than part of a winky-face) but it might end up as a dash-mark instead. I'm a proud user of the Oxford comma (https://annhandley.com/oxford-comma/) because I read about it once and thought it was a good idea. When I use quotation marks it's a 50-50 chance as to which side of it I'll put a punctuation mark.
I have now written two paragraphs without an exclamation point.
I have now written two paragraphs without an exclamation point!
The first sentence is a simple declarative. No big deal. The second (at least to me) calls attention to itself with a bit of humor. The difference is the exclamation point. And that's where I may have a problem.
I like them. I may like them too much. When I'm reading something I wrote I will often go back and change a period to an exclamation point. Very rarely do I remove one. I tell myself I can stop any time. And then I tell myself it's not like they cost extra to use! But it might be a bad sign that I can find the symbol on my keyboard with my eyes closed.
I console myself that it hasn't reached the point of using more than two at a time. I heed the warning that Terry Pratchett gives in Maskerade:
And all those exclamation marks, you notice? Five? A sure sign of someone who wears his underpants on his head.I do not want to be that person!
And yet, spellcheck can't help me with this. Nothing can stop me from overusing exclamation points!(!!!) except my own self-control.
So tell me, is this the sort of thing you care about, or even notice? Does this, or other misuses of punctuation offend you? Are you sympathetic to my plight? Or otherwise? (Uh oh. I may be developing a problem with the question mark.)
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