I've made a habit of reading The Onion daily because darnit it's just my style. And while all of the articles make me laugh, or at least crack a smile, occasionally I'll come across one that's just *SPECIAL* -- that I connect with on a deeply personal level, and I laugh until I can't breathe or fall out of my chair, whichever comes first.
This is one of THOSE. (And if you're with me on my burgeoning crusade to prevent semi-colon abuse, you'll get it. Totally.)
It's been some time, but I've finally gotten around to remembering to post a photo of my most recently completed cutout, inspired by a previous post on the delightful punctuation mark of the same name, and with every intention of being gifted to Jen A for Christmas. I must admit, it was tough to part with, but it made her happy, which made me happy, and hopefully I will be just as happy and not the least bit jealous to see it hanging on her wall (rather than mine).
I'm thinking of trying it again with black paper, to further enhance the color, glitter and sheen of the papers underneath. We'll see. Meanwhile, I have the cutout layer of another project completed--all it needs is the collage underneath. It looks like another busy week/weekend ahead of me, so I'm not sure when I'll get to it, but be on the lookout for another Little Joys installment soon!
Call Julie.
An ordinary command--a statement instead of a request, as indicated by a period at the end, rather than a question mark--becomes elevated in importance with the simple, continuous application of the shift key:
CALL JULIE.
But with a line hovering over that period, the urgent all-caps statement seems not only more urgent, but friendlier too:
CALL JULIE!
as if what it's really telling us, in sideways Morse-code-like style, is that the inflection of the last syllable is not a commanding drop but a cheerful raise in pitch, followed by an innocent but knowing smile, and that behind that narrow facade is a big fat "This is of the utmost importance, but I know that implied cheeriness is more likely than actual bossiness to get you to actually do it right now (please)." It may also say "Whoops, I almost forgot to tell you this, and I cannot possibly hold back any longer for if I do, I shall either forget again or explode."
So, as you can see, there is a very thin line dividing [an ordinary statement.] from [an EXCLAMATION!].
Rich text editors have enabled the more animated percentage of the population--of which I am a member--to enliven their informal written communication with emboldened, italicized, colored and otherwise visually enhanced text. However, the loss of rich text editing in my work e-mail has allowed me to develop a true appreciation for the humble asterisk. Asterisks can be used in plain text editing to add emphasis to a word, *or* to communicate nonverbal indicators, i.e. *grin*, *sigh*, *hug*, *cough*. They also make my words look sparkly. And what is the point of writing if not to make words sparkle?
