Not with a Whimper, but with a Bang!
Another comment about trends in the literature:
It’s been a very long time since I’ve read a scientific paper that used an exclamation point (!). Science bloggers use them all the time when talking about science, because they get excited and passionate. Scientists love science!
So, why is it that when scientists report their results in journals, they have to become all dispassionate and emotionless? Is it to invoke some sort of image of utter logic and rationality? What’s wrong with showing that you think something is exciting? I want exclamation points back in science journals, dammit.
I vow in my next paper (my first paper…), I will do everything possible to insert an exclamation point at the end of an excited sentence. It’s my duty to the scientific world!
(By the way, the title refers to both the T. S. Eliot poem “The Hollow Men” and the practice of programmers to refer to exclamation points as “bangs.”)
