Letters

[carrie]

I don't know why but today I started to think about the last time I wrote a letter.
We were taught at school how to format a letter, where to put the address, date, manner of address. Only to use Sir when writing to the editor of our local paper. I wonder if kids at school learn anything about letter writing, is it all in the past?

[HEPZIBAH]

If they are doing Englsih at GCSE level they have to prepare some letters such as to a local councillor, or a letter to appear in a newspaper.

That's interesting that you were taught only to use Sir when writing to the editor of your local newspaper. I don't think I've ever heard of that before. How would you address a letter if writing to someone who had been given the title of Sir?

[newcastle]

I don't know why but today I started to think about the last time I wrote a letter.
We were taught at school how to format a letter, where to put the address, date, manner of address. Only to use Sir when writing to the editor of our local paper. I wonder if kids at school learn anything about letter writing, is it all in the past?

I doubt, at Primary level, they know what a letter is, that it needs to be “posted”...requires a thing called a “stamp”...and might or might not reach its intended recipient.

Whether they receive any guidance on email etiquette....I don’t know.

I imagine the more observant ones amongst them recognise thar mummy and daddy occasionally receive envelopes through that slot in the front door...and the more curious ones may even ask what it is...and who that strange -looking uniformed man was who delivered it.

[newcastle]

If they are doing Englsih at GCSE level they have to prepare some letters such as to a local councillor, or a letter to appear in a newspaper.

Really?? Good grief! How quaint

Mind you...there’s a lot to be said for teaching decent spelling, grammar, punctuation, syntax etc....much of which seems to be a forgotten talent nowadays.

Sir TimBL has a lot to answer for.

[BENNU]

I remember when returning after 3-4 months in Luxor, I could hardly open the door for mail. It would take me several days to go through it and reply.

Now there may be a handful of letters waiting.

I do not even know how much it costs to send one.

[HEPZIBAH]

Until my late 20's I was a prolific letter writer. I still do write quite a few over the course of the year, but not as many as before and they tend to be a bit shorter these days, depending on my mood and how much space is available for my scrawl on a note card. Soon after the first Covid lockdown I made a point of sending letter cards to all my elderly and/or more isolated friends, as well as those that I could easily chat to on messenger sites.
I think to receive a personal letter or card in the post, without there necessarily being a special occasion for it, is a delight.
It is fair to say that since I've been able to type, and as my hand writing has become worse than ever, I do find it easier to compose better content online, and my spelling is better (even without spellcheck tools) than when I hand write things. It's always been a case of more haste, less speed with me, but using a keyboard helps me keep up speed and have a finished legible content.

Certainly I think that what puts many people off writing a letter these days is the cost of postage. Stamps in the UK start at 66p for a 2nd class envelope and 85pm for a 1st class envelope. Hardly surprising at those prices that people don't receive so many Christmas Cards as perhaps they once might have done.

[crewmeal]

I don't know why but today I started to think about the last time I wrote a letter.
We were taught at school how to format a letter, where to put the address, date, manner of address. Only to use Sir when writing to the editor of our local paper. I wonder if kids at school learn anything about letter writing, is it all in the past?

As an ESOL/Functional Skills teacher students still have to learn how to create a formal letter even though they would probably never need one in their working career. It seems most jobs are advertised via an agency or online. Companies receive so many applications that all they want are the basics. I sometimes wonder if those advertising even know how to create a formal letter these days.

[crewmeal]

I imagine the more observant ones amongst them recognise thar mummy and daddy occasionally receive envelopes through that slot in the front door...and the more curious ones may even ask what it is...and who that strange -looking uniformed man was who delivered it.

I doubt whether new build homes will even have a letter box inserted in their front door in years to come.

[newcastle]

I imagine the more observant ones amongst them recognise thar mummy and daddy occasionally receive envelopes through that slot in the front door...and the more curious ones may even ask what it is...and who that strange -looking uniformed man was who delivered it.

I doubt whether new build homes will even have a letter box inserted in their front door in years to come.

I take your point....but can you imagine the mess on your front lawn after you’ve been away a few weeks.....all that junk mail stuck in your rose bushes or clogging your guttering

Just as spam messages are the curse of the internet, so junk mail is the curse of what remains of our mail system. I returned from 4 months in Egypt recently to find a mountain of mail on my doormat which, after scrutiny, only produced 1 ( yes ONE !) missive which didn’t immediately go in the waste bin!

[HEPZIBAH]

I think it very sad that letter writing is gradually (or perhaps that should be fast) disappearing. Much of social history gets recorded on the pages of personal letters, and the ones that are stored away and the emerge again years later tell us a lot about people and their lives. I doubt emails or facebook pages will ever be stored and retrieved in the same way, and yet so much personal, family, and social history is being recorded electronically. We lose our rights to what we have written and shared, even if not publicaly, once we have put someting on line, and yet it probably will not be preserved in the same way that many letters are.

[newcastle]

I think it very sad that letter writing is gradually (or perhaps that should be fast) disappearing. Much of social history gets recorded on the pages of personal letters, and the ones that are stored away and the emerge again years later tell us a lot about people and their lives. I doubt emails or facebook pages will ever be stored and retrieved in the same way, and yet so much personal, family, and social history is being recorded electronically. We lose our rights to what we have written and shared, even if not publicaly, once we have put someting on line, and yet it probably will not be preserved in the same way that many letters are.

As some have found to their chagrin, stuff recorded on the internet....emails etc...have a habit of coming back to bite you! Ask Hilary Clinton It’s not that easy to permanently erase anything committed to cyberspace.

By contrast , the written missive is easily mislayed or deliberately destroyed. The US leaving Afghanistan must have regretted the amount of paper they had to burn...rather than a computer drive they could have destroyed, or taken with them.

It’s a great shame that Queen Victoria’s letters and diaries were not in digital form. Princess Beatrice would have had a harder job amending and deleting those bits she didn’t like and we wouldn’t have to be content with the sanitised version of the old bat’s outpourings

[hatusu]

I remember when you could post a letter in the morning and if local it would be delivered the same afternoon. Also if you sent something unsealed it was a ha'pence cheaper than sealed (still haven't got my head round that one but it was very important to us Yorkshire folk)