diff --git a/code/game/say.dm b/code/game/say.dm
index 6b923d4e83..a5691ad11f 100644
--- a/code/game/say.dm
+++ b/code/game/say.dm
@@ -110,7 +110,7 @@ GLOBAL_LIST_INIT(freqtospan, list(
 
 /// Quirky citadel proc for our custom sayverbs to strip the verb out. Snowflakey as hell, say rewrite 3.0 when?
 /atom/movable/proc/quoteless_say_quote(input, list/spans = list(speech_span), message_mode)
-	if(input[1] == "!")
+	if((input[1] == "!") && (length_char(input) > 1))
 		return ""
 	var/pos = findtext(input, "*")
 	return pos? copytext(input, pos + 1) : input
@@ -146,12 +146,11 @@ GLOBAL_LIST_INIT(freqtospan, list(
 	return "[copytext_char("[freq]", 1, 4)].[copytext_char("[freq]", 4, 5)]"
 
 /atom/movable/proc/attach_spans(input, list/spans)
-	if(input[1] == "!")
-		input = copytext(input, 1, length(input) + 1)
-	else
-		var/customsayverb = findtext(input, "*")
-		if(customsayverb)
-			input = capitalize(copytext(input, customsayverb + length(input[customsayverb])))
+	if((input[1] == "!") && (length(input) > 2))
+		return
+	var/customsayverb = findtext(input, "*")
+	if(customsayverb)
+		input = capitalize(copytext(input, customsayverb + length(input[customsayverb])))
 	if(input)
 		return "[message_spans_start(spans)][input]</span>"
 	else
diff --git a/code/modules/mob/say.dm b/code/modules/mob/say.dm
index a2cae0691f..b7ea70732b 100644
--- a/code/modules/mob/say.dm
+++ b/code/modules/mob/say.dm
@@ -50,14 +50,16 @@
 	usr.emote("me",1,message,TRUE)
 
 /mob/say_mod(input, message_mode)
-	if(input[1] == "!")
-		return ""
+	if(message_mode == MODE_WHISPER_CRIT)
+		return ..()
+	if((input[1] == "!") && (length_char(input) > 1))
+		message_mode = MODE_CUSTOM_SAY
+		return copytext_char(input, 2)
 	var/customsayverb = findtext(input, "*")
-	if(customsayverb && message_mode != MODE_WHISPER_CRIT)
+	if(customsayverb)
 		message_mode = MODE_CUSTOM_SAY
 		return lowertext(copytext_char(input, 1, customsayverb))
-	else
-		return ..()
+	return ..()
 
 /mob/proc/whisper_keybind()
 	var/message = input(src, "", "whisper") as text|null