To be irritated by exclamation marks?

[Worlds0kayestmum]

I'm all for an explanation mark when it's called for but when they are used as a full stop replacement in a paragraph of text, it really winds me up My brain reads each sentence with an upward inflection at the end and I mostly give up reading it all.

AIBU or are there other grammar nerds out there?

I agree with pp that they arenhabit forming. Perhaps a gateway punctuation to other overused things

What did the exclamation mark ever do to you? Huh? Maybe if you did treat it like a question mark you might have a better relationship!!

I think it's quite a discriminated puntuation. If I'm writing casually, I use them loads, great piles of them and often put great groups of them together at the end of consecutive sentences. I've never once used one in work.

Also read words alound in my head. Often tried to figure out how you read without 'hearing' the words.

Hi!

YANBU!

Cheers!

@CharityConundrum *My brain reads each sentence with an upward inflection at the end and I mostly give up reading it all.

Do you really 'hear' each word aloud in your head when reading? That's so weird - I have never thought about it before, but I definitely don't and now I'm wondering which is more common.

Where do you come across all these exclamation marks? Presumably if they make you give up reading, the material is probably not your preferred style anyway, so I wouldn't worry about it and don't worry about being a grammar nerd either - struggling with a particular style of writing doesn't make you a nerd

I genuinely find it weird that not everyone “hears” each word it's almost impossible for me not to do if I'm honest.

Can tell a lot about someone from how and what they write more so when you can look back through a number of things they've written because you can identify certain patterns in wording, tone and phraseology that kind of thing. When I worked in safeguarding we often had multiple allegations made by staff about other staff and one of the first things I did during the initial work to follow up a referral or alert would be sit down and trawl through paperwork.

Really do get a clear overall picture of people from what they write and I can almost “hear” their voices as well depending so a person who is too daft and giddy with the exclamation marks is like “OH MY GOD!! THIS HAPPENED WOW BEST THING EVER!!!!” but can also be a shouty “I AM SICK TO FUCKING DEATH OF THIS!!!”

Nothing gives people or businesses / management away more than internal communications / message books and memos / notes pinned to staff notice boards. They're a common tool for bullying in the workplace,

Responses to online reviews by owners also says so much about them more so when there is an endless stream of poor reviews and rating and the same spiel the owner or whoever just hits copy and paste “We are sorry to hear you were unsatisfied with our service please email wedontgiveaflyingcockend@noshitsgiven

Saw a job advert once for care staff in a residential home and on my life it said "PREVIOUS APPLICANTS THAT COULD NOT EVEN BE BOTHERED TO SHOW UP FOR INTERVIEW AND JUST WASTE MY TIME NEED NOT APPLY!!!!!!!!"

My ex, when he texts a question about our son uses ?????????? Every goddamn time.

@Originofstars My ex, when he texts a question about our son uses ?????????? Every goddamn time.

Smirking but only cos I know exactly what you mean and can imagine it'll be something like “So what time are you dropping off??????” and a second text to follow up if you don't reply within two minutes “CAN YOU TEXT BACK I NEED TO KNOW WHAT TIME???????????????”

I do like an exclamation mark but it takes some practice to get right. I am guilty of over-exclaiming in text messages though! I just seem to be so excitable! No idea where it comes from!

It’s the excessive use of commas that irk me (I say this as a reformed offender). I have a friend who writes poetry but puts a comma at the end of every.single.line. Completely ruins the flow of the poem!

There are also several posts in this thread that read clunky and confused due to unnecessary commas.

socksinperil, I, personally, love, well, like, an appropriate, measured, usage of a comma, although, only where, strictly, absolutely, truly necessary.

i love a good !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! so there!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I definitely over use!

I detest it too, and I also share your pain in ‘hearing’ the text as I read it.

I also believe either one exclamation mark, or three should be used - never 2! One of my English Teachers drummed this into me, although I don’t know if that is correct from a punctuation point of view, or just her preference.