WEBVTT - Short Stuff: Exclamation Points! 0:00:04.200 --> 0:00:07.720 Hey, and welcome to the short Stuff. I'm Josh, there's Chuck, 0:00:08.080 --> 0:00:12.119 there's Josh. This is short stuff with an exclamation point. 0:00:12.920 --> 0:00:15.800 I thought this was super interesting. I feel like we've 0:00:15.800 --> 0:00:20.480 talked about this before. Do you remember on our our 0:00:20.560 --> 0:00:24.400 little one minute explanation videos that have been scrubbed? I 0:00:24.400 --> 0:00:26.239 guess from the internet because I don't know where those 0:00:26.239 --> 0:00:29.560 things are. I don't know if I remember those. Yeah, 0:00:29.600 --> 0:00:31.880 we'd be like we'd explained something to one another in 0:00:31.920 --> 0:00:35.600 one minute too soon. Stand up videos, Yeah, I sort 0:00:35.640 --> 0:00:37.920 of do. We've done so many dumb videos over the years. 0:00:39.120 --> 0:00:41.120 I think the only thing that was worth anything was 0:00:41.120 --> 0:00:44.159 don't be dumb, You're sweet. But also Internet Roundup was 0:00:44.200 --> 0:00:50.199 pretty great, and again this day in history was wonderful. Wonderful. Anyway, 0:00:50.360 --> 0:00:52.040 I think we talked about this, but it is super 0:00:52.080 --> 0:00:54.640 interesting and I love it. Yeah. I think it's interesting 0:00:54.680 --> 0:00:56.840 because there's a lot of ten drils. We're talking about 0:00:56.840 --> 0:01:00.280 the exclamation point, and there are just lots of weird 0:01:00.320 --> 0:01:03.720 and interesting facts about this. Uh. No one knows where 0:01:03.720 --> 0:01:08.679 it came from exactly. It was introduced in English as 0:01:08.720 --> 0:01:11.440 far back as the fourteenth century, where it's called the 0:01:11.480 --> 0:01:14.679 point of admiration, that's pretty sweet. I like that. And 0:01:14.720 --> 0:01:18.440 the theory of what it how it came about was 0:01:18.520 --> 0:01:21.880 that it was used for the Latin exclamation of joy, 0:01:22.040 --> 0:01:25.679 which was capital I, capital oh I oh and I 0:01:26.160 --> 0:01:29.440 above that Oh looks like the exclamation point. Yeah. Like 0:01:29.520 --> 0:01:32.039 they think that somebody was using that and started just 0:01:32.360 --> 0:01:34.920 I guess saving space, I don't know, but instead of 0:01:34.920 --> 0:01:37.680 putting I than oh as I above oh and yeah, 0:01:37.720 --> 0:01:40.479 that looks a lot like an exclamation point. Yeah. They 0:01:40.480 --> 0:01:42.560 also think the question mark came from that to q 0:01:42.800 --> 0:01:46.480 o quo to question somebody, that they just put the 0:01:46.560 --> 0:01:48.840 que above the oh, and that's where that came from. 0:01:48.920 --> 0:01:52.680 It's pretty pretty good explanation if you ask me. Yeah. 0:01:52.760 --> 0:01:55.240 And so if you want to talk about like the 0:01:55.280 --> 0:01:57.560 actual rules of grammar, because it's different than how we 0:01:57.640 --> 0:02:00.800 use it today in some ways, you can also still 0:02:00.840 --> 0:02:03.480 use it this way. But is is obviously an exclamation 0:02:04.400 --> 0:02:08.520 to exclaim something in a sentence or an interjection, right, So, 0:02:08.600 --> 0:02:12.080 like if you're like, um, I stubbed my toe, that 0:02:12.120 --> 0:02:15.440 would be an appropriate place to use an exclamation point 0:02:15.440 --> 0:02:19.160 without people making fun of you or saying like, um, 0:02:20.400 --> 0:02:23.600 there you go. If you say that without an exclamation point, 0:02:23.600 --> 0:02:25.359 you just look kind of like a jerk, a cowboy 0:02:25.400 --> 0:02:29.760 who's dead inside, right, exactly. So people kind of long 0:02:29.880 --> 0:02:32.320 understood like these are the two instances that you could 0:02:32.400 --> 0:02:36.480 use an exclamation point, and that was that, Um, everyone 0:02:36.520 --> 0:02:40.440 just knew, like you just don't use it unless you are, say, 0:02:40.520 --> 0:02:43.400 like bad at writing. Like if you come across a 0:02:43.440 --> 0:02:46.080 book written in like the twentieth century and there's a 0:02:46.080 --> 0:02:49.119 lot of exclamation points, that book was roundly laughed at. 0:02:49.280 --> 0:02:51.160 Because one thing that you will find if you start 0:02:51.200 --> 0:02:53.760 to dig into the history of exclamation points is we 0:02:53.919 --> 0:02:58.280 used to use them way less than you see today. 0:02:58.520 --> 0:03:00.440 And they were used in the nineteenth tree. I think 0:03:00.520 --> 0:03:03.200 yellow muckraker journalists used them a lot to kind of 0:03:03.200 --> 0:03:05.919 get people on the edge of their seat or whatever. Um, 0:03:05.960 --> 0:03:08.080 it's kind of a poke. It's like a it's an 0:03:08.120 --> 0:03:10.840 emotional poke, and so it can get kind of worn 0:03:10.840 --> 0:03:14.280 out very quickly. And it was so people used them sparingly, um, 0:03:14.360 --> 0:03:18.799 starting around the twentieth century. Yeah, and here's another super 0:03:18.800 --> 0:03:22.160 cool little fact. I'm an old typewriter in my room 0:03:22.240 --> 0:03:25.160 and I've never noticed, but there is not an exclamation point, 0:03:25.720 --> 0:03:30.200 because up until about nineteen seventy they didn't have. It 0:03:30.240 --> 0:03:32.880 didn't have its own key as a as a punctuation mark. 0:03:33.560 --> 0:03:36.480 You had to retrofit it. Yeah, I didn't know how 0:03:36.520 --> 0:03:40.280 to make one, um, and this is pretty interesting in it. Yeah. 0:03:40.320 --> 0:03:43.480 So what you do is you type a period, step one, 0:03:44.040 --> 0:03:47.040 backspace two, and then you type an apostrophe on top 0:03:47.080 --> 0:03:50.000 of it, and that would be the third and final step. Yeah. 0:03:50.120 --> 0:03:52.640 Not bad. It's a good little solve. But your your 0:03:52.800 --> 0:03:56.640 exclamation point looks a little like lazy or crooked. Yeah, agreed, 0:03:57.000 --> 0:03:59.000 you know, I guess it gets the point across. I mean, 0:03:59.040 --> 0:04:01.320 you could you wanted to try and get tricky, you 0:04:01.360 --> 0:04:03.360 could roll the thing down a little bit and try 0:04:03.400 --> 0:04:06.040 and type an L. I suppose, sure, But that's you're 0:04:06.040 --> 0:04:08.720 really gambling there. Yeah, but think about the trouble that 0:04:08.800 --> 0:04:12.080 people went to type an exclamation point back then, Like 0:04:12.120 --> 0:04:14.960 you really needed to mean it, that's true, you know, 0:04:15.240 --> 0:04:19.640 like wanted exactly so um back in the day. Apparently 0:04:19.640 --> 0:04:23.839 they didn't call them exclamation points as recently as the fifties, Chuck, 0:04:24.200 --> 0:04:27.760 They called them bangs. And that's a longstanding tradition. I 0:04:27.800 --> 0:04:31.560 think in the nineteenth century, um printers like where they 0:04:31.560 --> 0:04:34.960 actually spelled out like each letter of every word in 0:04:34.960 --> 0:04:38.480 a newspaper. They called them bangs back then. Pretty cool, 0:04:38.760 --> 0:04:40.520 It is pretty cool. You want to take a break, Yeah, 0:04:40.520 --> 0:04:43.000 we'll take a break and talk about how things have changed. 0:04:43.400 --> 0:05:10.120 Exclamation as sk should Okay, Chuck, we're back. It's kind 0:05:10.120 --> 0:05:12.520 of funny if you listen to this episode and just 0:05:12.560 --> 0:05:15.040 imagine an exclamation point at the end of every one 0:05:15.080 --> 0:05:17.520 of our sentences. I'll bet it be a little more 0:05:17.600 --> 0:05:20.920 enjoyable than normal. Yeah, I mean, surely we'll call it 0:05:21.080 --> 0:05:24.520 something exclamation point and use an exclamation point. I don't know. 0:05:24.839 --> 0:05:27.279 I don't know. We could also zig instead of zagging, 0:05:28.080 --> 0:05:31.520 go for the subtle joke. So, if you are aware 0:05:31.720 --> 0:05:34.880 of the world today in the West at least, um, 0:05:34.960 --> 0:05:38.400 you are aware that exclamation points are everywhere. They're dripping 0:05:38.440 --> 0:05:42.640 from the ceilings, the walls, They're in your um, your cereal. 0:05:43.080 --> 0:05:47.039 Everywhere there's exclamation points. And this is a fairly new thing. 0:05:47.640 --> 0:05:50.640 And for a little while, especially when it really started 0:05:50.680 --> 0:05:53.440 to take hold and say, like the odds the two 0:05:53.480 --> 0:05:56.880 thousand odds, people made fun of these. I remember distinctly 0:05:56.920 --> 0:05:59.760 writing a blog post saying like this is ruining the 0:05:59.760 --> 0:06:04.960 war old basically, you're a I was um. Now, and 0:06:05.040 --> 0:06:08.880 I warned against this in my blog post. Now you 0:06:09.000 --> 0:06:12.600 can't not use an exclamation point or else you seem 0:06:12.640 --> 0:06:16.800 like you're being mean. That was the ultimate problem that 0:06:16.880 --> 0:06:20.080 I foresaw way back in the day. Yeah, so that 0:06:20.080 --> 0:06:23.880 that is what has changed. Everything is ecommunication. Uh. And 0:06:23.920 --> 0:06:27.240 there's a linguist named Gretchen McCullough who really, very sustinctly 0:06:27.800 --> 0:06:31.159 ties a bow on exactly what this is, and that 0:06:31.360 --> 0:06:35.320 is this it isn't It is a sincerity marker, not 0:06:35.520 --> 0:06:39.039 an intensity marker. Now, yeah, which makes a tremendous amount 0:06:39.040 --> 0:06:40.520 of sense. Yeah, I mean it can be both. You 0:06:40.520 --> 0:06:43.559 can still obviously say get out of my way exclamation point. 0:06:44.360 --> 0:06:47.719 But if you're communicating with someone via text via email 0:06:48.480 --> 0:06:50.719 and you say, you know, thanks a lot for helping, 0:06:51.480 --> 0:06:54.600 if you'd say thanks a lot for helping with just 0:06:54.640 --> 0:06:59.560 a period, it comes across as not too friendly. It 0:06:59.720 --> 0:07:02.719 just does. Now, it does. And it's sad because there's 0:07:02.760 --> 0:07:05.880 a very cool way of putting it that's not excited 0:07:05.960 --> 0:07:08.560 or anything like that. And if you I feel like 0:07:08.880 --> 0:07:11.240 we've also gotten a lot more insecure. At the same 0:07:11.280 --> 0:07:15.040 time we started to use electronic communication, and so that 0:07:15.040 --> 0:07:19.080 those two have kind of cohabitated or coexisted or co evolved, 0:07:19.480 --> 0:07:23.360 and we now require that exclamation point to say to 0:07:23.440 --> 0:07:27.720 say I mean this, like I'm being serious. Yeah, which 0:07:27.880 --> 0:07:33.600 because when we communicate electronically, email, chat, text, what have you, um, 0:07:34.080 --> 0:07:37.320 we're missing like all of the verbal, the audio, and 0:07:37.360 --> 0:07:40.800 the visual cues that come through when you're talking to 0:07:40.920 --> 0:07:43.800 somebody or you can hear someone talking or see them talking. 0:07:44.200 --> 0:07:47.880 So we have to kind of adorn our communication now 0:07:48.120 --> 0:07:50.520 with these other cues to let people know like I'm 0:07:50.520 --> 0:07:55.120 not being sarcastic, which makes people who use exclamation points sarcastically. 0:07:55.520 --> 0:07:58.600 They are basically undermining the very fabric of the new 0:07:58.680 --> 0:08:01.320 society that we're building, Like we're holding on by our 0:08:01.360 --> 0:08:04.120 fingernails on this new system, like please don't pull the 0:08:04.200 --> 0:08:06.120 rug out from unders, you know, like give it another 0:08:06.160 --> 0:08:08.720 fifty years maybe before you really start doing that. But 0:08:08.800 --> 0:08:12.280 it is an interesting thing with the sarcasm or genuine quality, 0:08:12.440 --> 0:08:14.600 and that's the differentiator. Like if someone gives you a 0:08:14.640 --> 0:08:17.640 lot of help, you could say thank you so much 0:08:17.760 --> 0:08:21.200 exclamation point. If someone doesn't really help you that much, 0:08:21.640 --> 0:08:24.840 you could also say thank you so much, and like 0:08:25.000 --> 0:08:27.000 you can hear my voice and clearly know what's going on. 0:08:27.440 --> 0:08:31.000 But in an email or a text, that period is 0:08:31.040 --> 0:08:33.800 a signifier. I think it's a message. Yeah, it is. 0:08:33.960 --> 0:08:36.319 It is so exactly how you take it, I think 0:08:36.400 --> 0:08:39.319 largely depends on the type of person you are. But 0:08:39.679 --> 0:08:43.160 I think what Gretchen mccullus said was, it's a it's 0:08:43.200 --> 0:08:48.920 a um sincerity mark, sincerity marker, beautiful over an intensity marker. 0:08:49.559 --> 0:08:51.560 The other thing, too, is that they have found through 0:08:51.600 --> 0:08:55.679 research that women use them more than men. Uh, if 0:08:55.679 --> 0:08:59.840 you're communicating online to show friendliness. And they've also found 0:09:00.679 --> 0:09:04.080 that young women and people of color, young people of 0:09:04.120 --> 0:09:08.360 color especially are linguistic innovators. They are often vilified in 0:09:08.360 --> 0:09:11.840 the early processes. Uh. And one thing they mentioned in 0:09:11.840 --> 0:09:14.520 this House Stuff Works articles is like Valley Girl speech, 0:09:15.240 --> 0:09:18.600 where as people say like all the time. Now some 0:09:18.640 --> 0:09:20.120 people pointed out and make fun of it, and I 0:09:20.160 --> 0:09:22.160 guarantee of those people use it all the time too. 0:09:22.720 --> 0:09:25.880 But uh, that stuff was really derided in the eighties, 0:09:26.320 --> 0:09:28.960 but now it's kind of widespread in a lot of ways. Yeah. 0:09:28.960 --> 0:09:31.640 I remember, I think it was it was his Moon Unit, 0:09:31.960 --> 0:09:35.400 Frank Zappa's daughter. Okay, remember she had that song Valley 0:09:35.400 --> 0:09:38.080 Girl that hit making fun of valley girls, and like 0:09:38.080 --> 0:09:40.280 the whole world was making fun of value girls and 0:09:40.320 --> 0:09:44.439 now everyone talks like a valley girl to a certain degree, 0:09:44.760 --> 0:09:47.280 that is true, I think. So. The idea behind this, 0:09:47.440 --> 0:09:52.280 according to linguists UM, is that starting about in the 0:09:52.280 --> 0:09:55.000 two thousand odds again two thousand five, six seven, and 0:09:55.000 --> 0:09:57.160 around the time when texting really became a big thing 0:09:57.200 --> 0:10:03.280 in America, UM, younger UH women started using exclamation points 0:10:03.320 --> 0:10:06.760 a lot, and it just became a an innovation that 0:10:06.960 --> 0:10:09.880 spilled over into the rest of culture. Yeah. And there 0:10:09.880 --> 0:10:12.400 are a couple of other theories that it It says 0:10:12.440 --> 0:10:15.839 a lot in a short amount of time, and people 0:10:15.840 --> 0:10:19.600 are communicating so quickly these days and shorter bursts, that 0:10:19.679 --> 0:10:21.840 it kind of plays a valuable role, which it really 0:10:21.960 --> 0:10:24.880 it does because if you if you add an exclamation point, 0:10:24.960 --> 0:10:26.600 it keeps you from having to say like and I 0:10:26.600 --> 0:10:29.559 couldn't believe it, Are I really meant it? Or I 0:10:29.679 --> 0:10:32.240 was very surprised. Yeah, it says it all right there, 0:10:32.400 --> 0:10:35.360 Yeah for sure. Um. The other interesting thing too, is 0:10:35.400 --> 0:10:39.439 that they've done UH studies and they have shown that 0:10:40.120 --> 0:10:44.600 if you use exclamation points in the business setting, that 0:10:44.800 --> 0:10:48.160 it is more likely that you're not a supervisor or 0:10:48.240 --> 0:10:52.880 hire or perceived as such. Right, and that is true. Man, 0:10:52.920 --> 0:10:55.679 when I think about like our bosses think there's a 0:10:55.720 --> 0:10:58.280 lot of exclamation points. That's for the kids. Yeah, nary 0:10:58.280 --> 0:11:01.400 an exclamation point among them. There is one person that 0:11:01.440 --> 0:11:04.720 I won't name on the air in our company that 0:11:04.760 --> 0:11:08.320 we exchange emails with that does the like two or 0:11:08.360 --> 0:11:11.120 three exclamation points. Oh, I have a notice, I'll have 0:11:11.160 --> 0:11:14.120 to pay attention. Don't tell me. Okay, okay, I'm gonna 0:11:14.120 --> 0:11:15.640 see if I can figure it out. I'll email you 0:11:15.720 --> 0:11:17.720 in the next few days about it. I always draw 0:11:17.720 --> 0:11:20.240 the line with one, and I tried to use them 0:11:20.280 --> 0:11:23.880 as very much as sincerity markers to display that, like 0:11:24.000 --> 0:11:26.720 I mean, they're genuine about something or sincere about something 0:11:27.520 --> 0:11:30.200 anything I don't do too. You don't use them much 0:11:30.240 --> 0:11:34.600 at all. I've noticed I use them, but I will. 0:11:34.679 --> 0:11:37.000 I have very frequently gone back and read an email 0:11:37.040 --> 0:11:39.840 for I sent it and removed an exclamation point, replaced 0:11:39.880 --> 0:11:41.720 it with the period. Not because I was coming on 0:11:41.760 --> 0:11:44.719 I didn't mind to like toned down my sincerity or 0:11:44.720 --> 0:11:47.520 anything like that, but because I don't want to over 0:11:47.760 --> 0:11:50.040 use them so that it does mean something or that 0:11:50.200 --> 0:11:53.600 does come through clearly when I do use them, right, uh, 0:11:53.640 --> 0:11:56.040 And tying into this the other kind of interesting thing 0:11:56.080 --> 0:12:01.160 how these um sort of it's not really grammar, but 0:12:01.200 --> 0:12:03.520 how these things evolve over the years. Is the all 0:12:03.640 --> 0:12:07.760 caps thing now means like you're yelling at somebody. And 0:12:07.840 --> 0:12:10.480 it's always funny to see in some sort of thread 0:12:10.559 --> 0:12:13.800 or forum where there maybe people of a certain age 0:12:14.160 --> 0:12:17.760 accidentally get that caps lot going right, and it just 0:12:17.920 --> 0:12:21.800 is like this angry old person it's just yelling at everybody. 0:12:22.160 --> 0:12:25.079 That's right, it is. It's funny that they don't mean that, 0:12:25.160 --> 0:12:27.400 they just didn't know how to turn it off. Yes, 0:12:27.440 --> 0:12:31.079 And if you have all caps and multiple explanations, you're 0:12:31.080 --> 0:12:36.600 either super excited are really ticked off. Yeah. Um, so, Chuck, 0:12:36.640 --> 0:12:39.880 I have to ask you something because I don't use 0:12:39.960 --> 0:12:44.520 exclamation points. From an outsider perspective, does it seem like 0:12:44.559 --> 0:12:49.199 I'm being tepid or cold or a jerk or mean? No, 0:12:49.360 --> 0:12:51.679 I mean you and I communicate and as short a 0:12:51.720 --> 0:12:54.120 hand as possible at this point. Yeah. Yeah, but like 0:12:54.440 --> 0:12:56.960 you're you're see seed on just about every email at 0:12:57.040 --> 0:12:59.880 work to other people. Yeah, so to other people, doesn't 0:13:00.040 --> 0:13:05.400 how does it look? I think managerial and refined. Oh, 0:13:05.440 --> 0:13:08.680 that's exactly what I'm going for. I have a computer 0:13:08.760 --> 0:13:10.880 monocle that I wear when I send emails so that 0:13:11.040 --> 0:13:13.040 it comes through. That's what I'm trying to get across. Yeah, 0:13:13.040 --> 0:13:17.760 you're doing fine, don't worry. Thanks, managerial, in, serviceable and 0:13:17.840 --> 0:13:21.720 workman like. Oh you got anything else? I got nothing else? 0:13:22.000 --> 0:13:27.400 I don't either, So that means that short stuff is away. 0:13:28.400 --> 0:13:30.640 Stuff you should know is a production of iHeart Radios 0:13:30.640 --> 0:13:33.360 How Stuff Works. For more podcasts for my heart Radio, 0:13:33.480 --> 0:13:36.320 visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you 0:13:36.360 --> 0:13:37.560 listen to your favorite shows.