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Law of exclamation
From RationalWiki
The law of exclamation is an internet law that states:
| “ | The more exclamation points used in an email (or other posting), the more likely it is a complete lie. This is also true for excessive capital letters. | ” |
The law has been observed for some time now, but was first reported on by the staff at FactCheck.org. The first recorded mentioned of the law in its present form was in an article by Lori Robertson on March 18, 2008.[1] The theory was originally conceived in response to numerous viral emails of questionable accuracy. Early tests have shown the law to be accurate enough to begin a full fledged Internet Law campaign. It is possible that the law is related to or descended from Terry Pratchett's field test for insanity, in which an increasing number of exclamation marks from one to five indicates increased separation from reality, with five exclamation marks being an infallible indicator of the speaker or writer being "someone who wears their underwear on the outside".
[edit] Law of exclamation!!!!111
In the presence of "!!!!!!11122" or "!!!!oneone" or even "!!!!!!123.14159", the odds that a story is completely false go up from "pretty damn likely" to "a fact so certain that it violates the philosophical stance that you can never fully prove anything".
Exclamation marks and capital letters are also commonly joined by insistences that a story is true. Phrases like "this is true, it ACTUALLY HAPPENED to me!!!!" or "This is SPOOKY!!! I thought it was just an urban legend, but it isn't!!!!" will be familiar to anyone who's ever opened an email from their mother and found their forehead on collision course with their keyboard.[2] This is quite similar to Danth's Law in that declaring something to be so doesn't necessarily make it so.
[edit] See also
[edit] Footnotes
- ↑ The original article with a description included
- ↑ Cracked.com - The 5 Lamest Forwarded Emails (And Why Your Mom Loves Them)
| Articles in RationalWiki related to Internet Laws | ||
|---|---|---|
| Cohen's Law - Conservapedia's Law - Danth's Law - DeMyer's Laws - Godwin's Law - Grey's Law - Jinx's Law - Law of exclamation - Poe's Law - Pommer's Law - Schlafly's Law - Scopie's Law - Skarka's Law - Skitt’s Law - Timecube Law - Zeigler's Law | ||
