Exclamation mark!!!!!!!!!!

[Claire!]

The Exclamation Mark

 

With the origins of basic punctuation stretching so far into antiquity, one might think that the exclamation point was used back in the days of the Romans. But actually the exclamation mark is just about 600 years old, and wasn't in common usage for a couple hundred years after that.

 

Anthony Graham-White's book Punctuation and Its Dramatic Value in Shakespearean Dramaiv gets right to the heart of the matter: one person invented the exclamation point. Graham-White gives credit for the exclamation mark to a "fourteenth-century humanist" named Coluccio Salutati. The mark was called the punctus exclamativus sive admirativus (Graham-White, 31). But just because it existed didn't mean it was in common use; Graham-White points out that "one work that discusses punctuation refers to [exclamation marks] as almost unknown before 1650." (Graham-White, 32).

 

What was done when a situation arose that would, in modern English, call for an exclamation point? Often printers used question marks to denote emphasis. Graham-White even gives an example of a question mark standing in for an exclamation point as late as 1697 (Graham-White, 33).

 

The intertwining of the exclamation mark and question mark has occurred even in modern times. In 1962, Martin K. Speckter proposed a new punctuation mark to denote a question and exclamatory emphasis at the same time.v (Example: "A subscription to the magazine costs how much?!") The new mark was called an "interrobang" -- interro for interrogative mark, and bang from the printer's slang for an exclamation mark. Though it enjoyed some popularity in the late 1960s, it has now all but disappeared from modern use.

 

The Exclamation Mark Today

 

Today the exclamation mark has become a symbol of exuberance and noise. Public and academic opinion of the mark is divided between those who can tolerate this kind of ebullience and those who can't. Ian Gordon says in a 1991 article, "The exclamation mark is hideously difficult. Avoid it."vi George Myers, in a 1997 article, refers to the exclamation mark rather grotesquely as "the meat hook of the desperate."vii On the other hand, Jack Levin wants the exclamation point brought to prevalence, as he complains in a 1990 article that "We seem to have lost our capacity to be aroused, alarmed, revolted, outraged, or shocked by anything important."viii

 

Nowadays the exclamation mark wears a variety of hats in our society. It's been a mainstay on the Internet for several years. It's been incorporated into company logos and packaging. And it has an honored place in every action comic book and the occasional action TV series (who can forget Batman's BAM! POW! and ZAP! ?) This one small mark has evolved with several different uses, as one may see on the following pages.

 

And i found these rules as well!!!!!!

 

Rule. Use exclamation points to show emphasis or surprise. Do not use the exclamation point in formal business letters

 

Use an exclamation point [ ! ] at the end of an emphatic declaration, interjection, or command

 

An exclamation mark may be used to close questions that are meant to convey extreme emotion,

 

An exclamation mark can be inserted within parentheses to emphasize a word within a sentence

 

In academic prose, an exclamation point is used rarely, if at all, and in newspaper writing the exclamation point is virtually nonexistent

 

WoW!!!!!!!!! I learn something new everyday!!!!!!!!!

[Northern Monkey]

So do you expect to follow the rules?

In academic prose, an exclamation point is used rarely, if at all

[Claire!]

I never follow any rules!!!!!!!!! I make my own rules up!!!!!!!!

[Rob_the_Saint]

This is all you need to know:

 

'Today the exclamation mark has become a symbol of exuberance and noise'

[Claire!]

LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!! There you go!!!!!!!! This is exactly my mark!!!!!!!!!

[Laz]

Perhaps it should be removed from keyboards of uneducated types like those in Markyate.

[Claire!]

Quote:

Laz EFM said:
Perhaps it should be removed from keyboards of uneducated types like those in Markyate.

LOL!!!!!!!!!!

Do you know that malcom, my sister's b'friend is a teacher for disadvantaged adults and adults with sevier learning difficulties.

He says that 60% of his class are from Markyate!!!!!!!!

[Laz]

Why am I not surprised by that.

 

When are we all going to the Friday night, Markyate disco?

[EFM The Firm, The Voice]

I think you misheard him he actually said 60% of Markyate are in his class

[Laz]

That sounds more like it. Webbed footed mongs!

[Claire!]

Quote:

Laz EFM said:
Why am I not surprised by that.

When are we all going to the Friday night, Markyate disco?

Ohhhhh!!!!!!! well the pub that held the markyate disco has now become a French Restaurant!!!!!! (Please see this weeks Review Newspaper page 8 for details!!!!!!)

You can all come and have some French Legs and some snails!!!!!!

i think that the pub was on TV or is being filmed for a tv program (according to my dad!!!!!) as it's haunted!!!!! Basically it's to get some cheap advertising i would think!!!!!!!!!

[Claire!]

Quote:

Laz EFM said:
That sounds more like it. Webbed footed mongs!

LMAO!!!!!!!!!! I havn't got webbed feet!!!!!!!!!!

No, the likes of people in Markyate have funny eyes, and talk not in proper English, but with a cross-breaded accent of Coun'ry side stroke the common accent of the East End of London!!!!!

(That's why, usually when i've had one to many Archers, i start talking more funny than i do!!!!!!)

[CANV EFM]

you would have to be pretty hungry to eat more than one french leg.

[EFM The Firm, The Voice]

Good to see the Cannibal market finally being cornered!

[EFM The Firm, The Voice]

What did the cannibal get when the arrived home for dinner late - The cold shoulder <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

[SteveP]

If a cannibal eats a vegatrarian, are they eating organic?

[American FLEET FAN No1]

You are Quite right Claire...Robbie isn't fat!!!!!

 

[Stu B]

Two cannibals are eating a clown,one turns to the other and says "does this taste funny to you?".....

 

Ah the oldies are the best.

[Mark (Flag) Braintree]

Quote:

Laz EFM said:
Why am I not surprised by that.

When are we all going to the Friday night, Markyate disco?

The clue is in the question Claire.

[Big J R]

Quote:

Claire! said:


i think that the pub was on TV or is being filmed for a tv program (according to my dad!!!!!) as it's [color:"blue"] haunted!!!!! [color:"black"] Basically it's to get some cheap advertising i would think!!!!!!!!!

[color:"red"] So one would expect them to sell a lot of S-P-I-R-I-T-S, then !

[color:"blue"] NURSE ? Get the stronger pills ! [color:"black"]

<img src="/images/graemlins/chloenurse.gif" alt="" />