Why ? !!!

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Simon E.
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Why ? !!!

Post by Simon E. »

This is in the way of a little light banter, right ?
Why do so many members litter their posts with exclamation marks ?
I realise that it is perfectly possible that due to the influence of Mr. Russell my teacher in second year of Primary School, who disapproved of their use other than extremely sparingly , I have have become over sensitive to the phenomenon....I can hear him now " Why the shout marks, Ellis " ? :o
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Grigoris
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Re: Why ? !!!

Post by Grigoris »

Exclamation (not shout) marks can be used to express -

Surprise:

"Oh my goodness!"

Happiness and joy:

"That's beautiful!"

Anger:

"I do believe I told you not to do that!"

Forcefulness:

"Stop!"

etc...

I believe you are being overly sensitive regarding their use! :tongue: Seems that Mr Russel was not so well informed regarding their use. Or maybe he was an anally retentive emotionally retarded WASP that did not approve of the expression of emotions/feelings, not even in written form? :tongue:
"My religion is not deceiving myself."
Jetsun Milarepa 1052-1135 CE

"Butchers, prostitutes, those guilty of the five most heinous crimes, outcasts, the underprivileged: all are utterly the substance of existence and nothing other than total bliss."
The Supreme Source - The Kunjed Gyalpo
The Fundamental Tantra of Dzogchen Semde
Simon E.
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Re: Why ? !!!

Post by Simon E. »

Gosh what a lot of speculation in response to a light hearted question.
Whether Mr Russell would conform to your idea of a WASP I have no idea.
He was W. He was not AS. And as far as I know he was not P. But you got the W spot on.
He was undeniably W.
But he did not invent the term 'shout marks' its quite widely used by native English English speakers in response to superfluous use of exclamation marks.
What he was was a very good teacher of English. teaching in English. To English kids. In England.
Which I realise makes him suspect.
“You don’t know it. You just know about it. That is not the same thing.”

Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche to me.
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Grigoris
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Re: Why ? !!!

Post by Grigoris »

My response was light hearted too Simon, hence the "tongue" smileys.

My English language teachers were English too (or Anglo-Irish), teaching English, in English speaking countries and the symbol "!" was always referred to as an exclamation mark. The use of exclamation marks could, validly, be considered superfluous if they were added to a statement unnecessarily. But since the writer is the one that recognises what they are trying to express through their written speech, it would be pretty hard for us to judge their use as superfluous unless we knew exactly what was going on in the writers "emotional world".
"My religion is not deceiving myself."
Jetsun Milarepa 1052-1135 CE

"Butchers, prostitutes, those guilty of the five most heinous crimes, outcasts, the underprivileged: all are utterly the substance of existence and nothing other than total bliss."
The Supreme Source - The Kunjed Gyalpo
The Fundamental Tantra of Dzogchen Semde
plwk
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Re: Why ? !!!

Post by plwk »

Maybe we live in expressive times these days? Life is an exclamation for some :tongue:
Simon E.
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Re: Why ? !!!

Post by Simon E. »

You might be right. We may have learned to distrust our being heard.
“You don’t know it. You just know about it. That is not the same thing.”

Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche to me.
DGA
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Re: Why ? !!!

Post by DGA »

The EMPHASIS! on VEHEMENCE! achieves self-parody on American political websites, particularly on the far right (thinking of redstate, freerepublic, &c), in which, for whatever reason, the exclamation points following all-capitalized posts are interspersed with the number 1. I bring this up because it's exemplary of how public discourse is more about shouting than thinking these days!!!11!
Simon E.
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Re: Why ? !!!

Post by Simon E. »

OK !
“You don’t know it. You just know about it. That is not the same thing.”

Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche to me.
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padma norbu
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Re: Why ? !!!

Post by padma norbu »

I BLAME COMIC BOOKS! EVERY LINE IS ALL CAPS AND EVERY LINE ENDS WITH AT LEAST ONE EXCLAMATION POINT!!!
"Use what seems like poison as medicine. We can use our personal suffering as the path to compassion for all beings." Pema Chodron
uan
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Re: Why ? !!!

Post by uan »

Simon E. wrote:This is in the way of a little light banter, right ?
Why do so many members litter their posts with exclamation marks ?
I realise that it is perfectly possible that due to the influence of Mr. Russell my teacher in second year of Primary School, who disapproved of their use other than extremely sparingly , I have have become over sensitive to the phenomenon....I can hear him now " Why the shout marks, Ellis " ? :o
communicating strictly through writing, whether email or on forums, etc. lacks "tone". That means the writer needs to add that tone somehow. It can be done through word choices, sentence structure, or through adding specific punctuations or emoticons.

I think it's cool people are showing their personality and how they are feeling when chatting on these forums. Rock on!
Simon E.
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Re: Why ? !!!

Post by Simon E. »

Is that what they are doing .. Showing their feelings ? I would think that is best achieved by careful phrasing.
“You don’t know it. You just know about it. That is not the same thing.”

Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche to me.
uan
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Re: Why ? !!!

Post by uan »

Simon E. wrote:Is that what they are doing .. Showing their feelings ? I would think that is best achieved by careful phrasing.
if only all people were me :)
Simon E.
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Re: Why ? !!!

Post by Simon E. »

Yes, well until and unless we all become you, perhaps careful sentence construction will serve communication better than will a forest of exclamation marks.
“You don’t know it. You just know about it. That is not the same thing.”

Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche to me.
uan
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Re: Why ? !!!

Post by uan »

Simon E. wrote:Yes, well until and unless we all become you, perhaps careful sentence construction will serve communication better than will a forest of exclamation marks.
I could have phrased it as:

1. Simon E. thinks to himself, "hmmm, if only all people were me ... "

or

2. If all people could become you with careful sentence construction that matches specifically how you process information ...

or

3. People tend to respond best to a specific communication style and it's more challenging to understand others when they communicate differently from how we normally process information. It'd be great if everyone could change to match our own specific style of communicating, based on our own specific brain functioning, the culture and life experience we've had, the type of education and learning we've had, our own level of understanding on a given topic, our sense of humor, our world view, our etc ad infinitum. Even more importantly, if only people could be mind readers to know exactly what we need to know. And when we write to others, to fill in all the gaps and inferences and nuances that is implied in want we write.

or

4. There must be some wisdom in, and reason behind, the 84,000 Dharma doors.
Simon E.
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Re: Why ? !!!

Post by Simon E. »

Thank you Uan for your speculation that suggests that you know what I am thinking to myself.
Well done. Very helpful.
“You don’t know it. You just know about it. That is not the same thing.”

Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche to me.
uan
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Re: Why ? !!!

Post by uan »

Simon E. wrote:Thank you Uan for your speculation that suggests that you know what I am thinking to myself.
Well done. Very helpful.
of course it's speculation, but it's based on you stating people should change how they write. (I was going to do a parenthetical knowing that the first response is always a variation of "you don't me, you don't know what I'm thinking.")

Of course, it was speculation on your part when you replied to my post "if only all people were me..." that I was referring only to myself.

But I didn't call you out on it.

You also called out Sherab Dorje at the beginning of this thread when he was being light hearted in his reply to your question. I guess he should have said "Here's a light hearted reply..." rather than use a smiley face.

Communications is always two ways, and communications is improved when we when understand that and make allowances for the other person, and that not everything is being said in an attacking or challenging way. In fact, even if someone is being attacking, it's all the more reason to just ignore that as part of our own practice and not respond to the attacking tone.
Simon E.
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Re: Why ? !!!

Post by Simon E. »

So I won't. :smile:

:namaste:
“You don’t know it. You just know about it. That is not the same thing.”

Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche to me.
uan
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Re: Why ? !!!

Post by uan »

Simon E. wrote:So I won't. :smile:

:namaste:
:rolling:

:anjali:
Simon E.
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Re: Why ? !!!

Post by Simon E. »

;)
“You don’t know it. You just know about it. That is not the same thing.”

Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche to me.
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Johnny Dangerous
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Re: Why ? !!!

Post by Johnny Dangerous »

I'm more guilty of "....." than "!!!", and the cause is pure laziness.
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Meditate upon Bodhicitta when you are scared

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