For those of our readers familiar with Seinfeld, one of the peripheral characters on the show has a problem with a particular punctuation mark.
To give you a brief background: One of the main characters, Elaine Benes, is dating an author who fails to use an exclamation point after taking down an important phone message for her. In true Seinfeld ridiculousness, the seemingly innocent incident leads to a big fight between the two.
Anyway, Elaine works for a publishing company and is editing her boyfriend’s new book. Upon delivering the final draft to her boss, Mr. Lippman, he notices “an inordinate amount of exclamation points,” obviously added by Elaine out of sheer spite. After giving her a couple examples of sentences that absolutely didn’t need the particular punctuation mark in question (It was a chilly day, so I decided to wear my sweatshirt!), Lippman states: “Get rid of the exclamation points. I hate exclamation points.”
Lippman and I are cut from the same cloth in this regard. Editing plenty of contributed copy on a weekly basis, I run into my fair share of exclamation points, and I always ask the same question – sometimes in my head and sometimes aloud – ‘why are you shouting at me?’ It is my firm opinion that the exclamation point doesn’t have much use in a newspaper.
My co-workers apparently find it hilarious that I feel so passionately about this seemingly insignificant subject. I get pretty worked up sometimes when citing examples, and the irony is not lost on me that as my voice becomes louder and higher pitched, if it were to be transcribed into print, most of things I was saying would no doubt be capped off with exclamation points.
Mind you, I’ll begrudgingly admit that there is a time and a place for exclamation points to appear in print. Columns certainly, as they are the opinion of the writer and sometimes you need that extra emphasis to drive your point home. Some are evidently more liberal than others when it comes to expressing enthusiasm levels; I’d just suggest for the redundancy factor alone try to limit your exclamation point usage to 26 or fewer per piece.
There have been times over the course of the history when certain publications have opted to use exclamation points in the banner headline. The end of the Second World War had many instances of newspapers around the world utilizing this method, with a 90-point, all capitals bold font loudly declaring ‘WAR OVER!’ Others were resigned to go without, and it should be of little surprise that I support this approach. With tens of millions killed over the course of this conflict’s six bloody years, somehow it seems more respectful to me to simply state ‘WAR OVER.’ The simple relief it implies does far more justice than an exclamation point ever could.
Newspaper writing styles have certainly changed drastically over the last 100 years, and without question the exclamation point was much more prevalent in the days of yore. That said, if the 1940s version of Mike the editor had approached me and demanded that I include some exclamation points in my copy, I think I still would have flipped my typewriter onto the floor and stormed out of the office.
When it comes to regular editorial copy, outside of maybe a sports quote that has an overly-enthusiastic interview subject shouting in your face after a championship win – “We did it, baby!” – an exclamation point should not appear anywhere within that text. It’s the journalistic equivalent of nails on a chalkboard for this guy. A seasoned writer trying to interject emotion using an exclamation point other than actually using their narrative skill hurts my brain, and is a form of editorialization in my books.
We all have that person we know who uses a minimum three dozen exclamation points for every single text message or email. Why it’s necessary to include six of the things after a single sentence when one (or none) will do is beyond me. ‘Have a great weekend!!!!!!’ suddenly becomes slightly obnoxious, when ‘Have a great weekend!’ or ‘Have a great weekend’ will do just fine. Unless you’re delivering that particular message to a friend from a block away with Friday afternoon traffic roaring between the two of you, there’s really no reason to shout. It’s great to be enthusiastic in your writing, but too many exclamation points can also make you appear slightly psychotic.
I have the feeling that this piece will likely create the opposite effect of my intent. And that now every text, email or copy submission I receive are going to be just packed with the things. Fair enough, I’ve brought it upon myself I suppose. Sometimes you just need to vent about the things that bother you, and just know that it can be done in a stable and calm written demeanour.
Thanks for reading and I’ll see you back here in a fortnight!!!!!! See what I mean?
***
This a bi-weekly opinion column; for question or comment contact Dan McNee at dmcnee@midwesternnewspapers.com.
