I No Longer Exclamate Like I Used To

Coming to France has made me seriously reconsider when it is appropriate to use the exclamation point in writing.

I find myself second guessing each mark - am I really that excited? Am I typing that to express fake enthusiasm? (Most often the answers are sadly no and yes.) I find I've adopted a sort of faint dislike towards the punctuation mark. I think of it as something like the ditzy, over-peppy cheerleader in school... the sentiments it expresses are often fake or shallow.

Anyhow... in reading recent emails I've sent to people I don't know very well, I find where I would have used the exclamation point in the past, I rarely deign to type it. However, with people I know quite well I continue to type it freely. It's weird - a sort of split between the US me communicating with my good old pals and the poser me in France communicating with people who I may or may not ever speak with again.

Interesting. My grammar teachers would be so intrigued.