At 06:19 PM 2/17/2003 -0800, Philip Hart wrote: >On Mon, 17 Feb 2003, Steven Brust wrote: > > > At 05:58 PM 2/17/2003 -0800, Philip Hart wrote: > > >I don't in fact use exclamation points. > > > > I do, occasionally. I'd miss them if they were gone. > >Outside of dialogue? Here's another example of why I'd like to have >your works accessible by search engine. I can't think of when I've used them outside of dialogue. But...uh...dialogue doesn't count for some reason? > > But you're right, > > they're used way too much. I had a huge argument with Ace because they > > would add exclamation marks to my cover quotes, and that would > infuriate me. > > > > > > > >In any case, I've seen too many sentences on the net which couldn't be > > >spoken in the tone indicated by the attached emoticon to find them > > >tolerable. Your mileage may vary, to quote the net. > > > > This argument, however, is specious. Misuse of a tool by some does not > > show that the tool is useless. > >I hesitate to argue with you about writing, and we're likely to veer into >the Saturday-night-special debate (or the somewhat different >why-does-the-US-have-chemical-weapons-if-Iraq-can't debate), but I think >you're wrong, at least in the case of style. If enough illiterate people >misuse a device, it taints the proper use of the device for the literate. Hmm. I concede that this can happen. I do not believe it has in the case of emoticons--when used where they belong, in any case. Of course, you're welcome to disagree if you want to be that stupid. ;-) A good case in point would be slashovers, which could be used brilliantly in the Old Days of fanzines and apa-hacking, but quite properly never made their way into general literature. >I'll call it the AOL-effect if you don't mind me overgeneralizing. A >simple example is the conversion of many Shakespeare quotes into cliches. Perhaps a poor example. No matter how hackneyed the cliche has become, a really good writer can still invest new life in it. Witness: _Too Too Solid Flesh_ I believe the title is, by Nick O'Donahue. SF murder mystery. Highly recommended, if you can find it.