I've been having a problem. Not a big problem, but still. I'm talking about people's personal punctuation quirks. Let me get the first one out of the way since it's the one that gets me into trouble when I point it out.
Women and exclamation marks. They use them a lot! Multiple ones!!!! Sometimes in every sentence! In letters and cards and especially email. Let me be blunt - I don't like exclamation marks. I think they're silly and demonstrate a certain weakness, as if the writer doesn't have enough confidence to let the sentence carry its own emotion. A writer I knew or read said that he felt he was only entitled to one exclamation mark in his lifetime. That's a bit extreme but I like the sentiment.
And what about ellipses? Why can't people get it that there's three dots not whatever number they feel like typing that day? My brother, the last time I read an email from him, used five dots. I didn't point it out because he thinks I'm a snob and for him this would be further evidence.
Quotation marks in dialogue - I can live with their absence. If Cormac McCarthy (who has a new book coming out) can do without them, so can I.
Dashes - long ago I hated them, but now I tend to use them a lot. To my mind, and more importantly to my ear, they mean something more than a comma, although I can't define the difference, exactly. For me, commas and dashes no longer have much do to with traditional rules of grammar. It's more how it sounds in my head.
But let's be careful people. Remember, a period is a full stop.
