The latest issue of Numismatic News has just GONE TO PRESS, and I am Recovering from COPY EDIT OVERLOAD!!!!
This week has been PARTICULARLY BAD!!! I mean REALLY, REALLY BAD! Folks who’ve sent in letters to the editor, Press Releases and NEWS in general have decided that CAPITAL LETTERS, exclamation marks and redundancy are the way to GRAB people’s attention!
I am ready to REMOVE the caps lock button from ALL computer keyboards and smash the exclamation mark key!!!!! Folks, we get the point. YOU DON’T HAVE TO SHOUT!
For years I’ve told cub reporters to write with restraint. The reader will get the point without a slew of adjectives. In the words of Mark Twain, “When you catch an adjective, kill it.”
And as for exclamation marks, my take on it is that everyone gets to use two exclamation marks in their writing. That’s two in a lifetime. So use them judiciously.
With that, I’ll sign off for now. I’ll go back to chasing adjectives and exclamation marks ¬ with a vengeance.