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The Chav of Punctuation.

There is no quicker way to weaken a jokey statement than using an exclamation mark!

See, I told you.

For me, exclamation marks are akin to wearing a novelty tie or t-shirt; seldom justified and the 'joke' wears thin almost as soon as it's started. It's not that they don't have their place (if I was trapped down a mineshaft I'd probably use one) - but that place isn't at the end of an amusing sentence.
 
Doing this usually suggests you’ve lost faith in your own sense of humour, and have tacked on some rogue punctuation last-minute to hammer the point home; “Look, Mum. I’M BEING FUNNY”. You might as well have attached an MP3 of a swanee whistle, or a short GIF of you shrugging at the camera.

(I know all my computer terminology.)

If Michael McIntyre was a punctuation point he’d be an exclamation mark: a big, fat one in Comic Sans.

 

Sometimes, if I’m writing a text or an email to someone who doesn’t know me very well, then the occasional exclamation mark will slip through the net. I’m not proud of myself when I do this – but it saves potential embarrassment. Sometimes you can be a little bit too dry.
 
If I’m being informal, I’d much rather opt for a smiley or a winky face. This only applies to written correspondence, though; saving the appropriate facial expression to the end of a real conversation is not to be encouraged.

Also, never use more than one exclamation mark, unless you’re Brian Blessed.
  
I was once sat with a friend who'd just received an irate text from a work colleague. It was signed off with a string of question marks and exclamation marks alternating in a haphazard fashion. If the sender had tried to represent this emotion in person he would have looked like he was having some kind of facial seizure.

I'd quite like to have seen it.
 
As far as I'm concerned, the only other time an exclamation mark is justified is when jazzing up a one-word title of a potential musical. 

"Adolf!', anyone?
 

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