Punctuation: necessary or not?

Dear Readers,

   In a 1993 episode of "Seinfeld," Elaine is upset because a seemingly perfect new boyfriend took down an urgent phone message and didn't add an exclamation point.  They argue about its importance and he walks out.  Later, when she tells Jerry what happened, he says, "I never heard of a relationship being affected by punctuation."
  Well, my relationship with the books and articles I read is sometimes affected by punctuation.  I can get so exasperated that I have to blog about it.  Read on.

Example:  John Grisham writes in his novel The Last Juror, "Sirens approached, then more shots, more shouting.  What in the world!"
 He also writes, "Willie!  You okay!"   *I believe these are questions being asked and therefore a question mark is needed instead of an exclamation point.  Am I right?

Example:  In The Guy Not Taken by Jennifer Weiner, when main character Marlie sees that an ex-boyfriend and his fiancee have requested a digital food scale on their wedding registry, she wonders,
"And if you're the person who gives them the food scale, what do you say on the card?  'Best wishes for a happy life together, PS, don't get fat?'"  *First, there should be a period after the word together.
Then there should either be a colon after PS:  or periods in between the letters [P.S.].
P.S.  Should the question mark come after the word fat?   This all just looks wrong.

Author Donna Tartt seems to like to write without commas.  Check out these examples from her novel The Goldfinch.
Example: "Well done you!"
Example:  "Yes yes, fine."
 *Where are the editors, I ask?

On TV's "The Big Bang Theory," someone is pulling a Halloween prank on Dr. Sheldon Cooper in his office at Cal Tech.  Blood dripping on the wall spells out:  SEE YOU IN HELL SHELDON
His reaction is, "The most frightening thing about that is the missing comma."  *Yes, Sheldon, I completely agree.

I like this example:  In an episode of TV's "The Middle," the town of Orson, Indiana is turning 100.
In honor of the Orsontennial, young Brick Heck enters a contest for a new city motto.  His is not chosen.  The winner is, "Orson - why not?"  He exclaims, "Nobody said we could use punctuation."

Have you ever heard the terms "under-punctuation" and "over-punctuation"?  Probably not.  That's because I just made them up.  I was given lots of data from the book entitled Over Age Dating written by Kathy Lerner.  The book doles out dating advice from 80-year old Aunt Frieda.  Check out these examples from this book.

Example:  Describing how to look hot at 80 years old:  I've been botoxed, bleached, tinted and threaded.  My former tightly curled gray hair is now blonde-streaked and has undergone a "Brazilian Blowout,"   *There is no need for both italics and "quote marks." Over-punctuation.  Not to mention the comma came at the end of the sentence.  Where's the period?

Example:  Describing current trends:  Get a "TRAMP STAMP" [tattoo].  *Does this need  to be CAPITALIZED and "quoted"?  Over- punctuation.  One or the other would have been sufficient.

Example:  She goes on:  Remember - no matter what your shape, it'll look better shoved into something tight and glittery..  *Was this supposed to be an elipsis (...) or was an extra period put in to make up for the missing one above?

Example:  The "Now" Generation:  You no longer dance Arthur Murray style - You dance Gangham, girl!!!  You are on a constant quest for the Fountain of Groovy . . . .  *First, she misspelled
Gangnam [Korean style of dance - I checked].  Next, she used three exclamation points!!!  Then she used italics and bold followed by four dots.  An elipsis uses only three.  Once again,
"over-punctuated!!"

Example:  On pet names for the new man in your life:  Call him "Dr. Fondles,"  Mr. Cuddles, or "You rascal you!!"  *Did you notice that the first and third pet names are quoted but the second one is not?(Here is a case for under-punctuation.)  And on the third, she uses both italics and quote marks plus two exclamation points.  What point is she really trying to make?  Over-punctuation???

Example:  For after the dirty deed:  Don't have that dreaded "morning after debriefing, "your bedroom is not "Operation Pacific" or "The Sands of Iwo Jima."   * Did you notice that the end quote did not come at the end of the phrase "morning after debriefing" but came before the next word.
And of course, too much punctuation with quote marks and italics.  This lady is desperately trying to get her points across, but she does it so poorly.  That's just my opinion.  DO YOU AGREE???

To really express how important punctuation is, read below two letters punctuated differently.  Which  one you would prefer to receive?


Dear John: 
I want a man who knows what love is. All about you are generous, kind, thoughtful people, who are not like you. Admit to being useless and inferior. You have ruined me. For other men, I yearn. For you, I have no feelings whatsoever. When we're apart, I can be forever happy. Will you let me be? 
Yours, 
Jane

Dear John: 
I want a man who knows what love is all about. You are generous, kind, thoughtful. People who are not like you admit to being useless and inferior. You have ruined me for other men. I yearn for you. I have no feelings whatsoever when we're apart. I can be forever happy--will you let me be yours? 
Jane

   In conclusion, dear Readers, I believe that punctuation is important, and that good punctuation is necessary.  I hope you agree.