A01=Florence Hazrat
atlas of unusual languages
Author_Florence Hazrat
bibliophile
bill Bryson mother tongue
books about language
Category=CB
Category=CBX
dear reader
eats shoots and leaves
eq_bestseller
eq_dictionaries-language-reference
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
ex libris
gift for language lover
linguistics books
Michael Rosen word of mouth
punctuation books
stocking filler book
word perfect susie dent
Product details
- ISBN 9781800811973
- Weight: 259g
- Dimensions: 134 x 200mm
- Publication Date: 03 Nov 2022
- Publisher: Profile Books Ltd
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Hardback
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The International Bestseller - Featured on BBC Radio 4
Love it or hate it, the exclamation mark has been with us from Beowulf to the spam email - an enthusiastic history for language lovers!
Few punctuation marks elicit quite as much love or hate as the exclamation mark. It's bubbly and exuberant, an emotional amplifier whose flamboyantly dramatic gesture lets the reader know: here be feelings! Scott Fitzgerald famously stated exclamation marks are like laughing at your own joke; Terry Pratchett had a character say that multiple !!! are a 'sure sign of a diseased mind'. So what's the deal with ! ?
An Admirable Point recuperates the exclamation mark from its much maligned place at the bottom of the punctuation hierarchy. It explores how ! came about in the first place some six hundred years ago, and uncovers the many ways in which ! has left its mark on art, literature, (pop) culture, and just about any sphere of human activity - from Beowulf to spam emails, ee cummings to neuroscience.
Whether you think it's over-used, or enthusiastically sprinkle your writing with it, ! is inescapable.
Florence Hazrat is a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow at the University of Sheffield, studying the bracket in early modern literature. She received her PhD from the University of St Andrews, where she researched refrains in the sixteenth century. She is a BBC/AHRC New Generation Thinker, a folk fiddler, and the host of a podcast about dots and dashes.
