Hand-written letters, e-mails & texts

[GHT]

Does anyone still fire off an indignant hand written letter? Are you saddened by the decline of good grammar and punctuation? For me, I rarely e-mail, but texting is very convenient, but I am a stickler for never using text speak, making sure that my texts are grammatically correct and I never respond to a text that's written in modern day gobbledegook.
At school, I was taught how to write in italic script, and to this day, I still hand write all my letters, using a fountain pen, a bottle of ink, a parchment writing pad and a dictionary.
Writing in such a way has always produced results with officialdom, whether it's the tax office or one of the utility companies. Giving them polite, but curt, hand written letters, never fails to get a response. And it's particularly useful for those companies that will only communicate online. As a business, they still need a mailing address, and that's not at all difficult to find out.
This might sound like a Luddite attitude, but I don't shun technology. How would I have ever found a forum like this if that were so? My approach has always been that you can encompass the new without abandoning the old.
Just for the record, do you still enjoy receiving hand written cards & letters? And, do you cringe at text speak? Or should I just accept that the world has changed, even when I don't think it's for the better?

 

[Feraud]

I've never been much of a letter writer. Most of my writing is email for work. I never use text speak and detest seeing it in email communications. Text speak comes off as lazy and juvenile.

 

[John in Covina]

I like to send thank you letters using nice thank you cards and using one of my fountain pens for writing. Don't send many letters these days but hope to make a change an get back on the writing letters kick.

 

[JazzyDame]

Yes, I am and always have been quite fond of writing and receiving handwritten cards and letters, and I shun texting and text-speak. I have quite a heritage of letter writers in my family. My father wooed my mother with beautiful handwritten letters and prose during their courtship; my mother exchanged letters with a Swedish cousin until his death at 104 years of age; my grandmother was an avid letter writer...I think I may have acquired a "letter-writing gene". I do use e-mail for work correspondence and as a convenient and expedient means by which to maintain a distant friendship, but I relish those intimate moments when I can indulge in writing letters. I think there's such a beautiful enchantment that occurs between the letter writer, the pen and the paper, something more profound and personal and powerful than anything the keyboard and computer monitor could ever convey or accomplish. Handwritten letters are effectively the most intimate form of written communication, and the experience of the writer and the reader is heightened by the vulnerability of this exchange. One ponders one's thoughts and sentiments more acutely before committing ink to the page, intensifying the meaning behind each carefully crafted word. And letter writing requires patience in both the writer and the reader, teaching us a good lesson in today's drive-thru, instant-gratification-based society. Handwritten letters are really and art form, are they not? Long live the Postal Service!

 

[GHT]

Yes, I am and always have been quite fond of writing and receiving handwritten cards and letters, and I shun texting and text-speak. I have quite a heritage of letter writers in my family. My father wooed my mother with beautiful handwritten letters and prose during their courtship.

what a lovely sentiment, and I just love that word: "Courtship." You have prompted a reminisce, my wife and I courted during the mid 1960's, we wrote love letters to one another almost on a daily basis. Those letters are all tied up with ribbon, recycled from various Christmas, birthday and random gifts, and they are lovingly filed at the back of our wedding album.
Feraud, you surprise me, that people actually use text speak in emails. Is it, text speak that is, an English language phenomenon, or do other languages indulge in it too?
John in Covina, as a small child, my mother always made me sit down and write a thank you card to acknowledge receipt of gifts and cards. I remember one occasion when my grandparents bought me a toytown post office. I was about five, my Dad wrote out a thank you note for me, and I labouriously copied it out. Unbeknown to my parents, I stuck a toytown stamp on the envelope and posted it off. The receiving post office were going to charge my grandparents excess postage, but they had a kindly lady who delivered their mail, and seeing a child's handwriting, she admonished her bosses for being so mean and petty.
Grandparents got their note of thanks. It would have made a good story for the local press.

 

[Dapper-Dan]

When writing anything online, I usually try to spell words as correctly as I can but skip some things like punctuation or capitalization to save time. I never use text speak, even when texting, although I might have when I had my old cell phone with no touchscreen or letter pad, I'll have to check. What I really can't stand is how people always use the wrong their/there/they're, or your/you're, etc. I've really seen a decline of the correct usage of those.

As for mail, I never send out letters or anything, but I've been wanting to put my typewriter to good use and type someone a letter.

 

[esteban68]

On occasion yes I still send traditional letters off, even my emails and texts are typed like a letter sans address!

 

[this one guy]

More of the writer's character comes out of hand written letters than does from email, texted, or hard copy typed correspondence. I've found this evident not only in letters, but even in notes on scraps of paper, articles, recipes, etc. The handwriting seems to present an aura that ties in to the person's personality more than any other tangible means outside of actual presence.

Particularly in cases in which the original writer has passed on, this can stir feelings and memories that otherwise had become obscure and faded.

 

[GHT]

More of the writer's character comes out of hand written letters than does from email, texted, or hard copy typed correspondence. I've found this evident not only in letters, but even in notes on scraps of paper, articles, recipes, etc. The handwriting seems to present an aura that ties in to the person's personality more than any other tangible means outside of actual presence.

Oh wow, you have just hit a reminiscent nerve there. I have spent most of my working life in management, one thing that I always did when recruiting was to ask for a hand written letter. In the advert I would put: "Reply, in your own handwriting, etcetera. etcetera, enclosing a copy of your C.V./Resume to......
And the reason that I did that was to get that 'feel' that you so eloquently describe. It also weeded out the semi literate. When a chosen applicant arrived for their interview, they would be given an application form to fill in. You would not believe how many of those application forms didn't match the handwriting of the original letter. All that collusion with Mother/girlfriend/or some other and they fall at the first hurdle. Mind you, those that could write, neatly, intelligently and articulately, always chose to write on good quality writing paper. As for the others, well I really should have kept those inept replies, I might have collated them into a best seller, or in the prose of some replies: A best cellar. There were scraps of paper torn from shopping lists, ther were scraps of paper with a row of punched holes were they had been ripped from the wire and there were scraps of paper that didn't even come up to toilet tissue standard.
I wasn't looking for applicants with an allergy to kryptonite, but I did need everyone to be able to demonstrate basic literacy. When did that get replaced by text speak?

 

[Hatter4]

My friend and I write a letter around 4-5 pages each letter. We send letters once a week.

 

[Hemingway Jones]

I write letters to my mom, my mother-in-law and friends around the world. I do this because I find that it is a nicer way to keep in touch and that email doesn't lend itself to long form writing for me.

I usually type my letters and sign them. My favorite typewriter has cursive script. The action of typing is relaxing and I do not fret over mistakes. I usually X them out and carry on.

Some of my typewriters also have blue ribbons to give the text a bit more character.

At my office, I type envelopes and hand write Thank you notes for a personal touch.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

I don't know whether or not my penmanship skills (never that great to begin with) have atrophied due to over reliance on the computer but I should have been a doctor because my handwriting is really awful.

 

[LizzieMaine]

The extent of my handwritten letters are notes in pencil on Big Chief tablet paper left for people at work. When I do write a personal letter I type it -- not just for legibility, but because after going on forty years of writing that way, I compose words better at a keyboard than by hand.

 

[Stray Cat]

people actually use text speak in emails. Is it, text speak that is, an English language phenomenon, or do other languages indulge in it too?

Well, this is something new in my world, but I have noticed an increase in this phenomenon lately. Mosty younger generations (I do not place myself among them). another thing I've been seing lately: "push to talk" in messaging. It's a perfect way to not only keep away your inability to write properly, but also there's no need to write at all. all they need now, is to press a button on their "device", talk to it, and press "send" - and the reiever gets your "vocal" message.
Stange and devious. [huh]

When writing anything online, I usually try to spell words as correctly

as most of you know, English is not my native language.
Therefore, I make sure to tripple check what I write (and how) before I send anything. :nod:

I don't know whether or not my penmanship skills (never that great to begin with) have atrophied due to over reliance on the computer but I should have been a doctor because my handwriting is really awful.

Now, now...
I would love to see that (in)famous handwritting in person.. send me a letter, and I'll be the judge of that. lol
I have encoutered so many "bad" writtings (being a teacher's kid does that to a person)

 

[Macbeth]

I taught AP English to high school seniors for years.

I wanted them to be stylish and original so I gave them all fountain pens and had them practice writing.
I had them write a short letter to someone they cared about. They all experienced an enlightening moment as they found that others really appreciated their efforts.

And for them, I always wrote their recommendation letters. Several were accepted to highly prestigious colleges BECAUSE the letters were hand written. That nailed down the point for them.

I feel that we tend to tuck away , save, and cherish handwritten letters while very few save emails and texts. Just not the same "soul" in the perfunctory nature of those.

And, I feel gentlemen should always carry 2 Fountain Pens. An accessory that speaks volumes.

 

[Stormy]

I journal write all the time, and I write short stories all in cursive. I like the idea of keeping up my penmanship skills. It has certainly become a lost art form.

 

[F. J.]

Why two?

[...]
And, I feel gentlemen should always carry 2 Fountain Pens. An accessory that speaks volumes.
[...]

I always carry a late-1930's black oversized Sheaffer filled with Skrip Blue-Black in my left inside jacket pocket, along with a small notebook. I love writing with it and it is now essentially my only writing instrument, aside from when I use pencils (My pencil of choice is the Dixon Ticonderoga).
This leads me to ask: why do you say carry two? I think one is quite enough for me, but I would like to hear your thoughts on the subject.

 

[Stray Cat]

I feel that we tend to tuck away , save, and cherish handwritten letters while very few save emails and texts. Just not the same "soul" in the perfunctory nature of those.

Back in school (all levels) we had to write our language exams in ink.

all in cursive. I like the idea of keeping up my penmanship skills.

I write in cursive all the time. I grew up writing like that, and penmanship is really important to me.

 

[Lee Hutch]

I still write the occasional handwritten letter. I don't use "text speak" in text messages either. I always write the complete word out, much to the chagrin of some of those I send messages to. I teach history at a community college and more and more students are using "text speak" in their college writing assignments. I do my best (along with the English professors) to cure them of the habit. I miss the good old days when people actually wrote good old fashioned letters. My son is 12 and he did not learn to write in cursive in school. (Some don't bother teaching it anymore!)

 

[Retro Spectator]

I personally hate all those LOL acronyms, as I find it hard to decipher the acronyms. They, to me at least, seem very lazy. I don't text, but I do play online video games often. I never use the acronyms. Ever.

I haven't written, or received a handwritten letter in years, of course, the same goes for e-mails. The only e-mails I get are spam.