My enemy the exclamation point

Ever since I was a kid I’ve had a mad on for the exclamation point.

It taunted me, sitting there on the page, telling me how excited I should be that Spot can run! And jump! And bark! and do all sorts of other super exciting things!

I hate the exclamation point. Despise it. If the exclamation point were lying on the street, gasping for air, I would sneak on by with a smirk on my face and hope to high heaven that dastardly piece of punctuation didn’t cling to life too long.

Why do I hate Mr. Exclamation Point so much? I mean, I’m a copywriter, right? A profession know for using the “point” to shuddering excess while hawking soap and Sudafed and prime, prime, (PRIME!) real estate in Florida.

I hate the exclamation point because, most of the time, the exclamation point is used like a whacky mustache on a boring banker.

It might make our bow-tie-wearing stentorian money lender look more exciting, but doesn’t actually make him more exciting.

It’s a disguise. A little piece of distracting fluff meant to trick your brain into thinking what your reading is much, much more exciting than it actually is.

In other words, a whole bunch of the time, the exclamation point is a lie.

“But, Chris, if you hate the exclamation point so much, how are we supposed to point out that something is exciting?”

Ahh, good question. Here’s the trick. Write something that actually is exciting.

I know, I know. Radical idea. But instead of just appending that damnable mark to the end of boring prose, why not, you know, write something that gets people honestly emotional?

Sorry about the blog black out lately. I blame December. And mountains of work. And he all new Haddadink.com which no, is not up yet, but yes, will totally rock.

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