Dear Annie: Exclamation invasion

Dear Annie: My brother recently told me that my sister-in-law (his wife) was anxious about an upcoming family lunch we’d both be at because she thought I was mad at her. The reason? I’d responded to one of her texts with “Thanks,” followed by a period. She thought because I didn’t use an exclamation point or emoji, I was being passive-aggressive. We cleared it up and are fine now (though it still bothers me a little bit that she went straight to assuming the worst).

At work, I’ve also noticed this trend toward exclamation points being the norm. A young woman started a few months ago. She is very sweet and upbeat – but in every email she sends, she uses about five exclamation points. Sometimes she ends a sentence with two or three of them.

It seems to be contagious because I’ve noticed exclamation points working their way into other co-workers’ emails with greater frequency. I am hoping by sticking to my guns and only using periods and commas, I can prevent an all-out exclamation invasion.

What do you think? Are exclamation points overused these days, or am I being a grumpy old lady? – Punctuation Problems

Dear Punctuation Problems: Exclamation points have become commonplace, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. For all the convenience of emails and texts, there is one major drawback: They lack tone. This is the problem that emojis and exclamation points seek to solve. I think they’re successful in that.

Still, I commend you for your de-exclamation efforts. They shouldn’t be compulsory. If people take your punctuation as a personal offense, then they’ve got too much time on their hands.