Is there really any need for this? Punctuation marks can have an impact

Social media has certainly led to the rise in popularity of one aspect of language — punctuation marks.

Along with the liberalisation of many aspects of social behaviour, there has also been a marked rise in exuberance when it comes to punctuation in written communication, especially those that come at the end of a sentence.

A single exclamation or question mark is regarded as too weak or namby-pamby by an increasing number of people. Indeed, combinations of punctuation marks and other symbols on keyboards to signify a range of emphatic emotions are fairly common now.


So, it was surprising, indeed, that a lecturer at a British university was removed from a hostel warden’s post because he used multiple question marks in text messages that his interlocutor felt created an ‘intimidating tone’.

Even more curious, however, was the fact that although he won his appeal and got a £15,000 payout for unfair dismissal, the judge ruled that his ‘excessive’ use of punctuation (two, four and six question marks in a row) was ‘unnecessarily aggressive’, so he was guilty of ‘culpable and blameworthy’ conduct.

It can be said, however, that repetitive punctuation for emphasis merely reflects the rising emotional level of verbal discourse, just as emojis do. Once the tone and tenor of quotidian conversations pipe down, so will punctuation marks.