2.18.2010

!

PREFACE: You english wahoo’s out there are going to cringe at this post. I am not very good at english, so there are a lot of grammatical errors. You will also be peeved, most likely, because this post is about how I dont like a certain punctuation mark. 

So what is the deal with the exclamation point(!), it is like a punctuation drug, and a very addictive one at that. Once you start using it, that’s it, you can kiss any chance of composing an even kill piece of writing goodbye, forever.

Sure, it starts off innocent, like placing it at the end of a sentence, where appropriate, e.g., Nancy Pelosi is a Goon!  or, I am out of TP! Appropriate uses of an exclamation point? Yes! (Whoa, see what I mean, I just subconsciously threw that exclamation point in there after Yes, you have got to be careful.)

But like I said, once you start using the exclamation point it starts creeping into places where it doesn’t belong, e.g., This grass is green! or, I have plenty TP! This dang punctuation mark has even made it into the wonderful world of mathematics, which cheeses me off--my guess as to why the ! symbol is used in mathematics is because some math whiz, who spent his whole life trying to derive a proof for his mathematical theorem, had this one step in his proof that was long, and a pain in the butt. So naturally, he decided to shorten that step by creating a symbol. What what better way to express your distain for that step then by letting an ! represent it. Anyway, back to what I was talking about earlier.

Finally, you have those crazy yahoos who are so completely addicted to this dreadful exclamation point that they frequently put more that one of these things after a word or sentence, e.g., I just ate mashed potatoes!!!!! Come on, I know mashed potatoes are great but do they deserve 5 exclamation points?

Women seem to be particularly addicted to the exclamation point. What’s with that? Kind of like how rich white people prefer snorting cocaine and blacks like to smoke it; or how large numbers of the chinese used to be addicted to opium, and men love booze. Lets face it, women love the exclamation point. 

So what’s my point (did you catch my pun)? It’s not much of one, just that we should avoid exclamation points like we avoid open sewer lines, and put an end to this incessant exclaiming, that’s all.

4 comments :

Jana said...

Great post Rauland!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Trisha said...

haha...that was a great post. But Im pretty sure that you would hate my blog bc I think I am one of those goons who uses it far too much without even realizing!!!!!!!!!!!!! Like that :)

Stacie said...

You exclaim that point of yours Raul. Ha, I'm funny.

Jenn said...

I'm one of those girls. I like the exclamation point. But I feel like its okay for me because I'm typically very excited and happy and I type almost exactly how I talk. And when I talk you'd see all kinds of exclamation points coming out of me. You know, if everything you say appeared in a little bubble above your head.
Please notice and appreciate there are no exclamation points in this post. It was hard.