The Exclamation Mark! Friend or Foe?

Did you know that the exclamation mark was not always called the exclamation mark? It went by screamer, bang, slammer, and many others throughout history. This ingenious punctuation mark didn't have its own place on the typewriter until 1970?! Oh, look at that, I introduced you to its relative, the interrobang (?!)—a subject for another blog perhaps? Prior to the exclamation mark debuting on the typewriter, you would have to create it manually by typing a period, then backing up and placing an apostrophe over the period—what a pain! The exclamation mark has somewhat murky origins. Let's dive into that history, shall we?
 
 
History of the Exclamation Mark.
 
 
One theory comes from an ancient Latin word io, invented by Medieval monks, who placed the word at the end of a sentence to express joy. In Latin, io means hurray. Eventually, the distinct i and o letters were written with the i placed above the o until the o became so small that it was just a dot.
 
The exclamation mark was first introduced into English printing in the 15th century to show emphasis and was called the "sign of admiration or exclamation." (Wikipedia contributors, "Exclamation mark," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Exclamation_mark&oldid=1094515467, accessed July 23, 2022). However, in the late 14th century, the Italian poet Iacopo Alpoleio da Urbisaglia claimed to have invented it, and then the influential Italian humanist Coluccio Salutati revived the exclamation mark, and its use spread in the 15th century.
 

What Do Authors Think of the Exclamation Mark?
 
 
Well, F. Scott Fitzgerald was not a fan. He famously said, "An exclamation point is like laughing at your own joke." Elmore Leonard was quoted as saying, “Keep your exclamation points under control. You are allowed no more than two or three per 100,000 words of prose.” In practice, he used 1,651. That is sixteen times as many as he recommended! Thou dost protest too much, methinks?
 

The Exclamation Mark Today.
 

Nowadays, people have their own rules about the exclamation mark, especially in online correspondence. Some will only use one at the end of the email. “Thanks!” Others use them so habitually you would think that they are the most excited and happiest person in the entire world! Perhaps the overuse of the exclamation mark is a result of having fewer in-person interactions? A way for our writing to show what our faces cannot? Either way, it's a fun piece of punctuation. I, for one, am glad that it fought its way into existence. Now, go use those exclamation marks, or not.