Written conversation doesn’t always lend itself well to conveying emotion or tone, which forces people to fall back on EPs, emoticons, and the like. Norris likes the creativity and expression in our newfound EP usage — particularly when people attempt to employ "extravagant" exclamation points, such as using an EP for every syllable (OH MY GOD!!!), or adding extra space between exclamation points, as if to create an exclamatory ellipsis (REVOLUTIONARY ! ! !). "It strikes me as a tiny bit daring," she says.But when women use EPs, that's not always the conclusion. Like our predilection for saying sorry unnecessarily , EPs are a way to soften the words we say. Many women can be so fearful of coming across as cold or bitchy that we feel compelled to put a cherry on top of most of our sentences. In other words: End a sentence with a period and you risk being accused of being on your period. (The Onion took this on with the article “ Stone-Hearted Ice Witch Forgoes Exclamation Point .”)This gave me the idea to go cold-turkey with EPs for a week. No more kicking off emails with, “Hi!”. No more ending simple, not-that-exciting messages with “Thanks!!”. No more comments on social media ending with "!!!".It was tougher than I'd thought. At first, I couldn’t stop picturing this one colleague of mine who almost never uses EPs; while I’ve never met her in person, I imagine her as Miranda Priestly from The Devil Wears Prada (that Onion article sure is spot-on). I felt compelled to add a little disclaimer at the bottom of certain work emails admitting, “P.S. I'm conducting an experiment where I try not to use exclamation points.” It also helped to pretend I was one of my male friends or family members, many of whom use EPs sparingly. What does that say about being a female in 2016?I had to check myself in nearly every email I sent. I was shocked to realize how heavily I rely on EPs to sweeten my emails — both personal and professional. Even now, lying in bed, on painkillers, post-foot surgery (decidedly not in an EP mood), an editor emailed me something along the lines of, "Feel better soon!" and I responded, "Thanks!" because replying, "Thanks" just reads as unappreciative.I slipped up many times, especially in texts, which I tend to fire off much quicker than emails. It's almost as if those motions of hitting the "123" button with my left thumb and the "!" with my right have become ingrained in my muscle memory.But eventually, I realized that not every text warrants an outburst of punctuation. When I'm planning a playdate with my friend and she writes, "My place or yours?" there's no need to write back, "Ours!". I realized I was using the EP to convey that I'm looking forward to seeing her; if we were in person or on the phone, I could do that with a smile or with warmth in my voice. With e-communication, all you have is grammar and punctuation.The more I practiced EP avoidance, the easier and more organic it became. I found myself coming up with more creative ways of expressing my excitement. For example:Keri: “We’re on for dinner this Wednesday."Me: “Yes!!”Became:Keri: “We’re on for dinner this Wednesday.”Me: “Fab.”