OMG! WTF! Why All The !!!!!! Points?

I know what you're thinking…OMFG! Finally, a post that has NOTHING to do with the global pandemic? Au contraire my friends, this pandemic started years ago, no, decades back, and has reached GLOBAL PROPORTION! They've even seen it in SPACE! No joke!!!

Yes, I am talking about the overuse of this 👉 !

ENOUGH ALREADY!!! Yes, I am shouting too, that will be another article later on.

The exclamation point no longer holds the power and authority it once held because…well, people are abusing the crap out of it!!! I've written over 100,000 ads in 40-plus years in this business, and I can tell you the exclamation point used to mean something. Now it's wallpaper.

A Brief History of the Bang

Let's go back in time to when the exclamation mark first appeared. The exclamation mark weaseled its way into English printing in the 15th century. Its purpose was to show emphasis, and was called the sign of admiration or exclamation. Until this time the '!' was used, well, well! The shit show of abuse was about to get REAL!

The exclamation mark was glorified with its own dedicated key on manual typewriters in the 1970s. For those of you that don't know what a manual typewriter is, have a look at this relic.

Before this hip time, back in the 1950s, secretarial dictation referred to the mark as "bang". I like that better than the word exclamation, by the way. It's thought that the word bang came from comic books where the '!' appeared in balloons, thought, or speech bubbles, to represent a gun being fired, or when person was being punched. Sorry, I think punches were OOOOF! and not BANG! My bad! Remember those awesome scenes from the Batman TV series? BANG!

The Epidemic Has Gone Viral

Today, the '!' is used carelessly, as if it's supposed to be a '.' instead of a '!' WTF, PEOPLE! Don't you know when to use a '!' and when to use a '.' for goodness sake? Jeeeeez!

This morning I popped open my gmail and saw at least a half dozen overly excited emails just waiting to be read, so I did what we all do these days, I skipped all the ones that were REALLY EXCITED!!! Are we so perky and alive these days that every message and line of text must be shouted, excited, and EXCLAIMED TO FREAKING DEATH?!?!?! (Did I use that right? You know, the '?!?!?!?!' thing?) I see it used all the time and it simply confuses the hell out of me. I love a good question, but an overly excited one…that's just too much for me to handle.

Even mother nature has taken a liking to abusing its use.

Overuse is killing the power of this once powerful and punchy punctuation. Have a look! I've sat through enough campaign reviews where a client tried to "fix" a flat headline by bolting three exclamation points onto the end of it, like seasoning couldn't save a dish that was never cooked right in the first place. It never works. A weak headline doesn't get stronger with punctuation, it gets louder and weaker at the same time. If you actually want a line that earns attention without screaming for it, that's a whole different craft -- go read how a headline is supposed to do 80% of the work instead of leaning on the shift key.

Time to Return It to Glory

People: stop making your own rules about the use of this valiant and noble punctuation, and return it to its former and most well deserved glory.

Save your use of '!' for when it REALLY MATTERS! Otherwise, every sentence you write is akin to shouting "FIRE" in a movie theatre, or reaching climax with every email. If we don't stop abusing this highly addictive '!' We will all be in punctuation rehab! And if you're tempted to let AI clean up your copy and pepper in some enthusiasm for you, don't -- AI is a decent research assistant and a terrible creative director, and it'll happily exclaim its way through a mediocre line just like the rest of us do when we're being lazy.

Thanks!!!