Oh no! Not again! It can't be! Another exclamation point!!??

It is reported that F. Scott Fitzgerald said, "Cut out all those exclamation marks. An exclamation mark is like laughing at your own jokes."

I am certainly guilty of abusing the use of them on FB and in other writing, but what is up with public companies using them in their logos?

Standard Practice is: "An exclamation mark or exclamation point is a punctuation mark: ! It is usually used after an interjection or exclamation to indicate strong feelings or high volume, and often marks the end of a sentence."

Now in the case of Pic n' Save, [ which coincidentally should have been: Pic' 'n' Save ] which about five years ago changed its name to Big! Lots, and I was compelled every time I drove by it to yell "BIG!!!! lots" in the car, until finally, they properly changed the position of the exclamation point to the end and are now officially: Big Lots!

The trend continues, as I witnessed passing what used to be Smart & Final. At first they were just too lazy to write out "and", but now I see they have added to their title and have become Smart & Final extra! --which bothers me now because:

a) in title case the e should be capitalized

b) I don't understand what makes them more than they were

c) I now have the need to call them Smart & Final EXTRA! EXTRA! READ ALL ABOUT IT!


Please, can we just stop the overuse of the exclamation point in public already? And if you are going to use it, call it by its 17th century name, the "note of admiration". It is so much more sophisticated, no?

> PS: I published this post and I got the message Your blog post published successfully!

> PPS: My own overuse of the 'note of admiration' is evidenced in my last post, so hang in there as I try to reduce my use of it too! (oops!... oh damn... I can't stop!)