Tuesday, July 13, 2010

I DON'T KNOW WHY WE'RE YELLING!!

You know what I love? Handmade signage that overstates the importance of the message.

For example, today in the bathroom at work there was a new sign on the paper towel dispenser.

"Do NOT (double underline) pull on the paper while still in motion!!!" it shouted.

Shouldn't exclamation points of that quantity be limited to emergencies with more serious consequences than, say, jammed paper towels? Like, "Don't EVER (double underline) put your baby in the microwave!!!" or "Kristie, STOP eating Hostess cupcakes with the delicious waxy frosting IMMEDIATELY!!! (double underline)"

That's what I think.

5 comments:

Liv said...

My 2010 English professor agrees with you.

In his southern accent, he told us that exclamation points are not for english papers. They are for exclamations, like FIRE!

Melinda said...

So...Mr. Drake always told us that we're allowed 3 exclamation points for our entire lives. And to think that some people just go blow them on stupid signs.

Jessica said...

Unnecessary explamation points are a pet peeve. They are almost as bad (though not as hilarious) as unnecessary quotes. Do you read that blog?
http://www.unnecessaryquotes.com/

Alice said...

I heart chocolate zingers. (double underline) !!!!!

So what do you think about my compulsive use of smiley face (colon parentheses) while texting/blogging/facebooking?

The Rookie said...

I'm just happy all was spelled correctly. I've decided that the battle against exclamation over-use is futile, except in my classroom. I can mark those suckers down all I want in that thick felt tip red pen of mine.

The YELLING phenomenon, however: almost as obnoxious as the aLtErNaTiNg CAPS & uncaps trend. It is bad enough when the individual is 14 and boy crazy. But when 30-year-old women indulge themselves in this, I want to take out aforementioned red pen and scroll: NOT CUTE--STUPID! (!!!!!!!!!!-- double underline!)