I’ll let you in on a little secret. One of the biggest giveaways that a client has written their own copy, without hiring a copywriter, is the over-use of exclamation marks.

The world’s most over-used punctuation mark has a lot to answer for. In a fraction of a second, it has the power to turn even the most delicately worded prose into a pantomime horse. It’s right up there with CAPS LOCK and alphanumeric truncation (h8ers gonna h8) for a spot in room 101. In the printing world, an exclamation mark is often referred to as a ‘screamer’, ‘gasper’, ‘bang’, ‘slammer’ or ‘startler’ – ie: something to be used sparingly, and for dramatic effect, where warranted. Over-use is tiring and annoying at best and shows lack of control. (Apple even has a specific section in their distributer rulebook about avoiding their use.) There’s even a word for excessive use of…

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  Bands of rhyme will be crossing the UK tomorrow.. streams of poetry will bring rain in the eyes.
  Season’s Tweetings to Sinners
  Shadow of the whole silence is folding over like an envelope.Post it now
  The spice of wife..pepper.
  ~Hop around the roses
  It’s best to saunter nowadays.
  When inside out, a cat can still scratch.. with its reversible catclaws.Try one tonight.Just unzip the cat and it will spring into the heir…to the throne or is it the air all round>
  Until the end of all rhymes I’ll be loving you
  Time feels all wounds…and holes
  Maps of the iceberg have melted..
  Two hearts that beat as none ever did.
  I wait for the lime to be ripe then it will be a lemon.
  If you have a man,wash him weekly in a tin bath…don’t blame me if you get drawn in…..mate in the bath … saves washing the sheets.