How to Ruin a Blog, Post or Text
Blame it on the texting craze or on social media. Everyone is using too much punctuation. But adding exclamation points, italics, and ellipses doesn’t improve a piece of text. More often it succeeds only in doing the opposite.
Think of it as jewelry: An exclamation point is one piece of jewelry. Italicizing is another is another piece of jewelry. Three italics are three pieces of jewelry. Bolding is another piece. All caps is yet another piece. And two all caps is again another piece.
You know how your grandmother always told you to take off a piece of jewelry? It’s the same idea with punctuation. It gets to be too much very fast. And it’s not necessary.
Furthermore, loading up copy with tons of punctuation is treating your reader like she’s dumb. But as British advertising tycoon David Ogilvy once asserted so brilliantly, “The consumer is not a moron. She’s your wife.”
Hold off on trying to add so much bling to a piece of copy. Concentrate on making it simple instead.
Here’s some advice to rid yourself of habitual punctuation overuse habits.
1. Ease off on the explanation point. Are you preoccupied with showing enthusiasm? “I’m ready to help!” Do you feel the need to cheer on others? “You did a great job!” Whatever your intent behind your use of the explanation point, it may not serve your purpose in many settings. Ask yourself whether the situation really calls for such exuberance. Consider this: research shows that women use the explanation point more often than men. Could women be overcompensating for a demeaned status in their workplace? Whatever the reason, think twice before exclaiming.
2. Put an end to your ellipses. The three dots used mid-sentence or at the end of a sentence is meant to denote an omission in information that’s extraneous to making your point. But now, thanks to its overuse in informal texting, an ellipsis tends to indicate either that the writer has begun to drift off from the topic (“We can discuss later…”), or can be taken as innuendo (“Let’s chat…”). Implying either connotation with the use of the ellipsis will leave the impression that you’re evasive and not prone to communicating directly.
3. Curtail emphasizing with italics. The use of italics for emphasis is another relatively new tendency. While once reserved for titles, to set off lines of quotation or to indicate words in another language, they’re now used — and overused — to stress a word’s meaning. “Can you believe what they did?” and “You need to decide.” Cuing the reader about the weight of a word occasionally has its place. However, overdoing points of emphasis can become annoying.
4. Recognize when quotation marks don’t “say” anything. Quotation marks indicate where spoken words begin and end in written dialogue. They also enclose a quotation from another source. But more and more, they’re applied to signify words used in an ironic manner: “His ‘occupation’ is critiquing everyone’s work,” or a nuanced way: “She’s off on ‘vacation.’” True, quotes serve a purpose in signaling a double meaning to a familiar word. When quotation marks aren’t needed is when the meaning is simply the meaning.
5. Rethink the implications of all caps. Entirely capitalized words, phrases or complete sentences were traditionally reserved for acronyms, legal documents or election ballots. Now they’re used in regular text as an attention-getting ploy. Words in all caps provide a way to deliver a message emphatically, like a shout or a scream. “GET THAT MESSAGE OUT NOW.” Capitalized words stand out like a billboard in a sea of street signs. Keep in mind, though, that the distinctiveness of the billboard loses its rarity when you add too many to the skyline. Capitalized text is harder to read than lowercase text and long phrases or sentences in all caps tend to get tedious.
6. Avoid doubling down on the dash. The long or double dash used instead of parenthesis to imply an add-on or qualifying bit of information is especially in vogue. “The copier broke — again.” While useful, its overuse leaves your copy looking chopping or full of holes. It also gives the impression of scattered thoughts and ideas.
Yes, social media has provided us with an outlet for emphatic social commentary and stream-of-consciousness communicating. But beware carrying over your punctuation bling from your texts and online rants into any professional writing venues.
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Vicky Oliver is a leading career development expert and the multi-best-selling author of five books, including 301 Smart Answers to Tough Business Etiquette Questions (Skyhorse Publishing, 2010), Live Like a Millionaire (Without Having to Be One) (Skyhorse, 2015), and Power Sales Words: How to Write It, Say It, and Sell It with Sizzle (Sourcebooks, 2006). She is a sought-after speaker and seminar presenter and a popular media source, having made over 901 appearances in broadcast, print, and online outlets. For more information, visit vickyoliver.com.
