March 4, 2020 • 13 mins
We all use them! But did we always? NO!! Learn all about everyone's favorite punctuation mark today!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Hey, and welcome to the short Stuff. I'm Josh, there's Chuck,
there's Josh. This is short stuff with an exclamation point.
I thought this was super interesting. I feel like we've
talked about this before. Do you remember on our our
little one minute explanation videos that have been scrubbed? I
(00:24):
guess from the internet because I don't know where those
things are. I don't know if I remember those. Yeah,
we'd be like we'd explained something to one another in
one minute too soon. Stand up videos, Yeah, I sort
of do. We've done so many dumb videos over the years.
I think the only thing that was worth anything was
don't be dumb, You're sweet. But also Internet Roundup was
pretty great, and again this day in history was wonderful. Wonderful. Anyway,
(00:50):
I think we talked about this, but it is super
interesting and I love it. Yeah. I think it's interesting
because there's a lot of ten drils. We're talking about
the exclamation point, and there are just lots of weird
and interesting facts about this. Uh. No one knows where
it came from exactly. It was introduced in English as
far back as the fourteenth century, where it's called the
(01:11):
point of admiration, that's pretty sweet. I like that. And
the theory of what it how it came about was
that it was used for the Latin exclamation of joy,
which was capital I, capital oh I oh and I
above that Oh looks like the exclamation point. Yeah. Like
they think that somebody was using that and started just
(01:32):
I guess saving space, I don't know, but instead of
putting I than oh as I above oh and yeah,
that looks a lot like an exclamation point. Yeah. They
also think the question mark came from that to q
o quo to question somebody, that they just put the
que above the oh, and that's where that came from.
It's pretty pretty good explanation if you ask me. Yeah.
(01:52):
And so if you want to talk about like the
actual rules of grammar, because it's different than how we
use it today in some ways, you can also still
use it this way. But is is obviously an exclamation
to exclaim something in a sentence or an interjection, right, So,
like if you're like, um, I stubbed my toe, that
would be an appropriate place to use an exclamation point
(02:15):
without people making fun of you or saying like, um,
there you go. If you say that without an exclamation point,
you just look kind of like a jerk, a cowboy
who's dead inside, right, exactly. So people kind of long
understood like these are the two instances that you could
use an exclamation point, and that was that, Um, everyone
(02:36):
just knew, like you just don't use it unless you are, say,
like bad at writing. Like if you come across a
book written in like the twentieth century and there's a
lot of exclamation points, that book was roundly laughed at.
Because one thing that you will find if you start
to dig into the history of exclamation points is we
used to use them way less than you see today.
(02:58):
And they were used in the nineteenth tree. I think
yellow muckraker journalists used them a lot to kind of
get people on the edge of their seat or whatever. Um,
it's kind of a poke. It's like a it's an
emotional poke, and so it can get kind of worn
out very quickly. And it was so people used them sparingly, um,
starting around the twentieth century. Yeah, and here's another super
(03:18):
cool little fact. I'm an old typewriter in my room
and I've never noticed, but there is not an exclamation point,
because up until about nineteen seventy they didn't have. It
didn't have its own key as a as a punctuation mark.
You had to retrofit it. Yeah, I didn't know how
to make one, um, and this is pretty interesting in it. Yeah.
(03:40):
So what you do is you type a period, step one,
backspace two, and then you type an apostrophe on top
of it, and that would be the third and final step. Yeah.
Not bad. It's a good little solve. But your your
exclamation point looks a little like lazy or crooked. Yeah, agreed,
you know, I guess it gets the point across. I mean,
you could you wanted to try and get tricky, you
(04:01):
could roll the thing down a little bit and try
and type an L. I suppose, sure, But that's you're
really gambling there. Yeah, but think about the trouble that
people went to type an exclamation point back then, Like
you really needed to mean it, that's true, you know,
like wanted exactly so um back in the day. Apparently
they didn't call them exclamation points as recently as the fifties, Chuck,
(04:24):
They called them bangs. And that's a longstanding tradition. I
think in the nineteenth century, um printers like where they
actually spelled out like each letter of every word in
a newspaper. They called them bangs back then. Pretty cool,
It is pretty cool. You want to take a break, Yeah,
we'll take a break and talk about how things have changed.
Exclamation as sk should Okay, Chuck, we're back. It's kind
(05:10):
of funny if you listen to this episode and just
imagine an exclamation point at the end of every one
of our sentences. I'll bet it be a little more
enjoyable than normal. Yeah, I mean, surely we'll call it
something exclamation point and use an exclamation point. I don't know.
I don't know. We could also zig instead of zagging,
go for the subtle joke. So, if you are aware
(05:31):
of the world today in the West at least, um,
you are aware that exclamation points are everywhere. They're dripping
from the ceilings, the walls, They're in your um, your cereal.
Everywhere there's exclamation points. And this is a fairly new thing.
And for a little while, especially when it really started
to take hold and say, like the odds the two
(05:53):
thousand odds, people made fun of these. I remember distinctly
writing a blog post saying like this is ruining the
war old basically, you're a I was um. Now, and
I warned against this in my blog post. Now you
can't not use an exclamation point or else you seem
like you're being mean. That was the ultimate problem that
(06:16):
I foresaw way back in the day. Yeah, so that
that is what has changed. Everything is ecommunication. Uh. And
there's a linguist named Gretchen McCullough who really, very sustinctly
ties a bow on exactly what this is, and that
is this it isn't It is a sincerity marker, not
an intensity marker. Now, yeah, which makes a tremendous amount
(06:39):
of sense. Yeah, I mean it can be both. You
can still obviously say get out of my way exclamation point.
But if you're communicating with someone via text via email
and you say, you know, thanks a lot for helping,
if you'd say thanks a lot for helping with just
a period, it comes across as not too friendly. It
(06:59):
just does. Now, it does. And it's sad because there's
a very cool way of putting it that's not excited
or anything like that. And if you I feel like
we've also gotten a lot more insecure. At the same
time we started to use electronic communication, and so that
those two have kind of cohabitated or coexisted or co evolved,
and we now require that exclamation point to say to
(07:23):
say I mean this, like I'm being serious. Yeah, which
because when we communicate electronically, email, chat, text, what have you, um,
we're missing like all of the verbal, the audio, and
the visual cues that come through when you're talking to
somebody or you can hear someone talking or see them talking.
(07:44):
So we have to kind of adorn our communication now
with these other cues to let people know like I'm
not being sarcastic, which makes people who use exclamation points sarcastically.
They are basically undermining the very fabric of the new
society that we're building, Like we're holding on by our
fingernails on this new system, like please don't pull the
rug out from unders, you know, like give it another
(08:06):
fifty years maybe before you really start doing that. But
it is an interesting thing with the sarcasm or genuine quality,
and that's the differentiator. Like if someone gives you a
lot of help, you could say thank you so much
exclamation point. If someone doesn't really help you that much,
you could also say thank you so much, and like
you can hear my voice and clearly know what's going on.
(08:27):
But in an email or a text, that period is
a signifier. I think it's a message. Yeah, it is.
It is so exactly how you take it, I think
largely depends on the type of person you are. But
I think what Gretchen mccullus said was, it's a it's
a um sincerity mark, sincerity marker, beautiful over an intensity marker.
(08:49):
The other thing, too, is that they have found through
research that women use them more than men. Uh, if
you're communicating online to show friendliness. And they've also found
that young women and people of color, young people of
color especially are linguistic innovators. They are often vilified in
the early processes. Uh. And one thing they mentioned in
(09:11):
this House Stuff Works articles is like Valley Girl speech,
where as people say like all the time. Now some
people pointed out and make fun of it, and I
guarantee of those people use it all the time too.
But uh, that stuff was really derided in the eighties,
but now it's kind of widespread in a lot of ways. Yeah.
I remember, I think it was it was his Moon Unit,
(09:31):
Frank Zappa's daughter. Okay, remember she had that song Valley
Girl that hit making fun of valley girls, and like
the whole world was making fun of value girls and
now everyone talks like a valley girl to a certain degree,
that is true, I think. So. The idea behind this,
according to linguists UM, is that starting about in the
(09:52):
two thousand odds again two thousand five, six seven, and
around the time when texting really became a big thing
in America, UM, younger UH women started using exclamation points
a lot, and it just became a an innovation that
spilled over into the rest of culture. Yeah. And there
are a couple of other theories that it It says
(10:12):
a lot in a short amount of time, and people
are communicating so quickly these days and shorter bursts, that
it kind of plays a valuable role, which it really
it does because if you if you add an exclamation point,
it keeps you from having to say like and I
couldn't believe it, Are I really meant it? Or I
was very surprised. Yeah, it says it all right there,
Yeah for sure. Um. The other interesting thing too, is
(10:35):
that they've done UH studies and they have shown that
if you use exclamation points in the business setting, that
it is more likely that you're not a supervisor or
hire or perceived as such. Right, and that is true. Man,
when I think about like our bosses think there's a
(10:55):
lot of exclamation points. That's for the kids. Yeah, nary
an exclamation point among them. There is one person that
I won't name on the air in our company that
we exchange emails with that does the like two or
three exclamation points. Oh, I have a notice, I'll have
to pay attention. Don't tell me. Okay, okay, I'm gonna
see if I can figure it out. I'll email you
in the next few days about it. I always draw
(11:17):
the line with one, and I tried to use them
as very much as sincerity markers to display that, like
I mean, they're genuine about something or sincere about something
anything I don't do too. You don't use them much
at all. I've noticed I use them, but I will.
I have very frequently gone back and read an email
for I sent it and removed an exclamation point, replaced
(11:39):
it with the period. Not because I was coming on
I didn't mind to like toned down my sincerity or
anything like that, but because I don't want to over
use them so that it does mean something or that
does come through clearly when I do use them, right, uh,
And tying into this the other kind of interesting thing
how these um sort of it's not really grammar, but
(12:01):
how these things evolve over the years. Is the all
caps thing now means like you're yelling at somebody. And
it's always funny to see in some sort of thread
or forum where there maybe people of a certain age
accidentally get that caps lot going right, and it just
is like this angry old person it's just yelling at everybody.
(12:22):
That's right, it is. It's funny that they don't mean that,
they just didn't know how to turn it off. Yes,
And if you have all caps and multiple explanations, you're
either super excited are really ticked off. Yeah. Um, so, Chuck,
I have to ask you something because I don't use
exclamation points. From an outsider perspective, does it seem like
(12:44):
I'm being tepid or cold or a jerk or mean? No,
I mean you and I communicate and as short a
hand as possible at this point. Yeah. Yeah, but like
you're you're see seed on just about every email at
work to other people. Yeah, so to other people, doesn't
how does it look? I think managerial and refined. Oh,
(13:05):
that's exactly what I'm going for. I have a computer
monocle that I wear when I send emails so that
it comes through. That's what I'm trying to get across. Yeah,
you're doing fine, don't worry. Thanks, managerial, in, serviceable and
workman like. Oh you got anything else? I got nothing else?
I don't either, So that means that short stuff is away.
(13:28):
Stuff you should know is a production of iHeart Radios
How Stuff Works. For more podcasts for my heart Radio,
visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you
listen to your favorite shows.
Hey, and welcome to the short Stuff. I'm Josh, there's Chuck,
there's Josh. This is short stuff with an exclamation point.
I thought this was super interesting. I feel like we've
talked about this before. Do you remember on our our
little one minute explanation videos that have been scrubbed? I
(00:24):
guess from the internet because I don't know where those
things are. I don't know if I remember those. Yeah,
we'd be like we'd explained something to one another in
one minute too soon. Stand up videos, Yeah, I sort
of do. We've done so many dumb videos over the years.
I think the only thing that was worth anything was
don't be dumb, You're sweet. But also Internet Roundup was
pretty great, and again this day in history was wonderful. Wonderful. Anyway,
(00:50):
I think we talked about this, but it is super
interesting and I love it. Yeah. I think it's interesting
because there's a lot of ten drils. We're talking about
the exclamation point, and there are just lots of weird
and interesting facts about this. Uh. No one knows where
it came from exactly. It was introduced in English as
far back as the fourteenth century, where it's called the
(01:11):
point of admiration, that's pretty sweet. I like that. And
the theory of what it how it came about was
that it was used for the Latin exclamation of joy,
which was capital I, capital oh I oh and I
above that Oh looks like the exclamation point. Yeah. Like
they think that somebody was using that and started just
(01:32):
I guess saving space, I don't know, but instead of
putting I than oh as I above oh and yeah,
that looks a lot like an exclamation point. Yeah. They
also think the question mark came from that to q
o quo to question somebody, that they just put the
que above the oh, and that's where that came from.
It's pretty pretty good explanation if you ask me. Yeah.
(01:52):
And so if you want to talk about like the
actual rules of grammar, because it's different than how we
use it today in some ways, you can also still
use it this way. But is is obviously an exclamation
to exclaim something in a sentence or an interjection, right, So,
like if you're like, um, I stubbed my toe, that
would be an appropriate place to use an exclamation point
(02:15):
without people making fun of you or saying like, um,
there you go. If you say that without an exclamation point,
you just look kind of like a jerk, a cowboy
who's dead inside, right, exactly. So people kind of long
understood like these are the two instances that you could
use an exclamation point, and that was that, Um, everyone
(02:36):
just knew, like you just don't use it unless you are, say,
like bad at writing. Like if you come across a
book written in like the twentieth century and there's a
lot of exclamation points, that book was roundly laughed at.
Because one thing that you will find if you start
to dig into the history of exclamation points is we
used to use them way less than you see today.
(02:58):
And they were used in the nineteenth tree. I think
yellow muckraker journalists used them a lot to kind of
get people on the edge of their seat or whatever. Um,
it's kind of a poke. It's like a it's an
emotional poke, and so it can get kind of worn
out very quickly. And it was so people used them sparingly, um,
starting around the twentieth century. Yeah, and here's another super
(03:18):
cool little fact. I'm an old typewriter in my room
and I've never noticed, but there is not an exclamation point,
because up until about nineteen seventy they didn't have. It
didn't have its own key as a as a punctuation mark.
You had to retrofit it. Yeah, I didn't know how
to make one, um, and this is pretty interesting in it. Yeah.
(03:40):
So what you do is you type a period, step one,
backspace two, and then you type an apostrophe on top
of it, and that would be the third and final step. Yeah.
Not bad. It's a good little solve. But your your
exclamation point looks a little like lazy or crooked. Yeah, agreed,
you know, I guess it gets the point across. I mean,
you could you wanted to try and get tricky, you
(04:01):
could roll the thing down a little bit and try
and type an L. I suppose, sure, But that's you're
really gambling there. Yeah, but think about the trouble that
people went to type an exclamation point back then, Like
you really needed to mean it, that's true, you know,
like wanted exactly so um back in the day. Apparently
they didn't call them exclamation points as recently as the fifties, Chuck,
(04:24):
They called them bangs. And that's a longstanding tradition. I
think in the nineteenth century, um printers like where they
actually spelled out like each letter of every word in
a newspaper. They called them bangs back then. Pretty cool,
It is pretty cool. You want to take a break, Yeah,
we'll take a break and talk about how things have changed.
Exclamation as sk should Okay, Chuck, we're back. It's kind
(05:10):
of funny if you listen to this episode and just
imagine an exclamation point at the end of every one
of our sentences. I'll bet it be a little more
enjoyable than normal. Yeah, I mean, surely we'll call it
something exclamation point and use an exclamation point. I don't know.
I don't know. We could also zig instead of zagging,
go for the subtle joke. So, if you are aware
(05:31):
of the world today in the West at least, um,
you are aware that exclamation points are everywhere. They're dripping
from the ceilings, the walls, They're in your um, your cereal.
Everywhere there's exclamation points. And this is a fairly new thing.
And for a little while, especially when it really started
to take hold and say, like the odds the two
(05:53):
thousand odds, people made fun of these. I remember distinctly
writing a blog post saying like this is ruining the
war old basically, you're a I was um. Now, and
I warned against this in my blog post. Now you
can't not use an exclamation point or else you seem
like you're being mean. That was the ultimate problem that
(06:16):
I foresaw way back in the day. Yeah, so that
that is what has changed. Everything is ecommunication. Uh. And
there's a linguist named Gretchen McCullough who really, very sustinctly
ties a bow on exactly what this is, and that
is this it isn't It is a sincerity marker, not
an intensity marker. Now, yeah, which makes a tremendous amount
(06:39):
of sense. Yeah, I mean it can be both. You
can still obviously say get out of my way exclamation point.
But if you're communicating with someone via text via email
and you say, you know, thanks a lot for helping,
if you'd say thanks a lot for helping with just
a period, it comes across as not too friendly. It
(06:59):
just does. Now, it does. And it's sad because there's
a very cool way of putting it that's not excited
or anything like that. And if you I feel like
we've also gotten a lot more insecure. At the same
time we started to use electronic communication, and so that
those two have kind of cohabitated or coexisted or co evolved,
and we now require that exclamation point to say to
(07:23):
say I mean this, like I'm being serious. Yeah, which
because when we communicate electronically, email, chat, text, what have you, um,
we're missing like all of the verbal, the audio, and
the visual cues that come through when you're talking to
somebody or you can hear someone talking or see them talking.
(07:44):
So we have to kind of adorn our communication now
with these other cues to let people know like I'm
not being sarcastic, which makes people who use exclamation points sarcastically.
They are basically undermining the very fabric of the new
society that we're building, Like we're holding on by our
fingernails on this new system, like please don't pull the
rug out from unders, you know, like give it another
(08:06):
fifty years maybe before you really start doing that. But
it is an interesting thing with the sarcasm or genuine quality,
and that's the differentiator. Like if someone gives you a
lot of help, you could say thank you so much
exclamation point. If someone doesn't really help you that much,
you could also say thank you so much, and like
you can hear my voice and clearly know what's going on.
(08:27):
But in an email or a text, that period is
a signifier. I think it's a message. Yeah, it is.
It is so exactly how you take it, I think
largely depends on the type of person you are. But
I think what Gretchen mccullus said was, it's a it's
a um sincerity mark, sincerity marker, beautiful over an intensity marker.
(08:49):
The other thing, too, is that they have found through
research that women use them more than men. Uh, if
you're communicating online to show friendliness. And they've also found
that young women and people of color, young people of
color especially are linguistic innovators. They are often vilified in
the early processes. Uh. And one thing they mentioned in
(09:11):
this House Stuff Works articles is like Valley Girl speech,
where as people say like all the time. Now some
people pointed out and make fun of it, and I
guarantee of those people use it all the time too.
But uh, that stuff was really derided in the eighties,
but now it's kind of widespread in a lot of ways. Yeah.
I remember, I think it was it was his Moon Unit,
(09:31):
Frank Zappa's daughter. Okay, remember she had that song Valley
Girl that hit making fun of valley girls, and like
the whole world was making fun of value girls and
now everyone talks like a valley girl to a certain degree,
that is true, I think. So. The idea behind this,
according to linguists UM, is that starting about in the
(09:52):
two thousand odds again two thousand five, six seven, and
around the time when texting really became a big thing
in America, UM, younger UH women started using exclamation points
a lot, and it just became a an innovation that
spilled over into the rest of culture. Yeah. And there
are a couple of other theories that it It says
(10:12):
a lot in a short amount of time, and people
are communicating so quickly these days and shorter bursts, that
it kind of plays a valuable role, which it really
it does because if you if you add an exclamation point,
it keeps you from having to say like and I
couldn't believe it, Are I really meant it? Or I
was very surprised. Yeah, it says it all right there,
Yeah for sure. Um. The other interesting thing too, is
(10:35):
that they've done UH studies and they have shown that
if you use exclamation points in the business setting, that
it is more likely that you're not a supervisor or
hire or perceived as such. Right, and that is true. Man,
when I think about like our bosses think there's a
(10:55):
lot of exclamation points. That's for the kids. Yeah, nary
an exclamation point among them. There is one person that
I won't name on the air in our company that
we exchange emails with that does the like two or
three exclamation points. Oh, I have a notice, I'll have
to pay attention. Don't tell me. Okay, okay, I'm gonna
see if I can figure it out. I'll email you
in the next few days about it. I always draw
(11:17):
the line with one, and I tried to use them
as very much as sincerity markers to display that, like
I mean, they're genuine about something or sincere about something
anything I don't do too. You don't use them much
at all. I've noticed I use them, but I will.
I have very frequently gone back and read an email
for I sent it and removed an exclamation point, replaced
(11:39):
it with the period. Not because I was coming on
I didn't mind to like toned down my sincerity or
anything like that, but because I don't want to over
use them so that it does mean something or that
does come through clearly when I do use them, right, uh,
And tying into this the other kind of interesting thing
how these um sort of it's not really grammar, but
(12:01):
how these things evolve over the years. Is the all
caps thing now means like you're yelling at somebody. And
it's always funny to see in some sort of thread
or forum where there maybe people of a certain age
accidentally get that caps lot going right, and it just
is like this angry old person it's just yelling at everybody.
(12:22):
That's right, it is. It's funny that they don't mean that,
they just didn't know how to turn it off. Yes,
And if you have all caps and multiple explanations, you're
either super excited are really ticked off. Yeah. Um, so, Chuck,
I have to ask you something because I don't use
exclamation points. From an outsider perspective, does it seem like
(12:44):
I'm being tepid or cold or a jerk or mean? No,
I mean you and I communicate and as short a
hand as possible at this point. Yeah. Yeah, but like
you're you're see seed on just about every email at
work to other people. Yeah, so to other people, doesn't
how does it look? I think managerial and refined. Oh,
(13:05):
that's exactly what I'm going for. I have a computer
monocle that I wear when I send emails so that
it comes through. That's what I'm trying to get across. Yeah,
you're doing fine, don't worry. Thanks, managerial, in, serviceable and
workman like. Oh you got anything else? I got nothing else?
I don't either, So that means that short stuff is away.
(13:28):
Stuff you should know is a production of iHeart Radios
How Stuff Works. For more podcasts for my heart Radio,
visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you
listen to your favorite shows.
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