From Dave Lull, the following citation. I don’t know where he got it.
Priscilla Jensen’s review of “An Admirable Point: A Brief History of the Exclamation Mark!” by Florence Hazrat (Bookshelf, April 7) reminds me of something the novelist D. Keith Mano wrote in National Review in 1975: “The exclamation point may be used only in dialogue and then only if the person speaking has recently been disemboweled.”
Edgar Isaacs
Salisbury, Md.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/when-to-use-an-exclamation-point-16b4037d
I had the link, and it’s even in there. But the article’s behind a pay wall.
That’s Harsh!!