Art of Email Typing

Thursday, August 29th, 2002 at 7:06 AM | Category: Meryl's Notes Blog No comments

Thinking back to when I wrote real letters to pen pals or family members when away from home — I tried to recall how I wrote such letters in comparison to email… besides having carefully selected, cute stationery. Ah ha. The letters were typically two hand-written pages long as opposed to one or two paragraphed emails.

An email takes little effort. Hit NEW, enter email address, type meaningful subject, and say what you gotta say. A letter, hoo boy. Find paper, look up address, find stamp, find pen that works, write… shake hand to release the pain… write more… repeat. Since it takes this much effort, it would be nuts to limit it to one to two paragraphs… unless you’re doing a postcard.

I’ve reacted to emails with anger, sadness, frustration, happiness, and a whole wide range of other emotions. The anger and frustration wasn’t always necessary. It was the way the person worded the message. The person may simply be sharing a couple of facts, but it’s easy to make it an aggravating letter instead of an informative one.

My brother stinks at email writing and online chatting. I try not to go that route with him too often. He comes across brash. Hey, he’s a nice guy. Just doesn’t e-write well. Mom, on the other hand, writes in her personality but like someone who is not technically inclined. Her long emails rarely have paragraph breaks. If I lose my place… it’s a game of hide and seek to regain my spot.

Salon.com Books takes a look at You Send Me by Patricia T. O’Conner & Stewart Kellerman. It promises not to focus on grammar, spelling, or any of that stuff you learned in grade school. Instead, the authors focus on the etiquette of writing emails. From the reviews I’ve read, it sounds like common sense. However, there are many who haven’t figured it out.

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