The lost art of written correspondence

[El Presidente]

Maybe it is my age group..but can so few put a decent letter together anymore?

I am just having a whinge but one of those days where 7 hours has been in writing correspondence across all businesses to suppliers, distributors, lawyers, lawyers for distributors (thank fully not acting against me....this week). I have partners in each of those businesses and in the main much younger than I....and yet the placing of thoughts on paper in a succinct and logical manner falls upon myself 99% of the time.

I am no wordsmith by any means. It is the reason I enjoy reading kens diatribe so much. Punctuation free...it is still a joy of how the pen is mightier than the sword.

Still, when I see some "yungins" ..and not so "yungins" try to put something together it fills me with fear! They take an eternity to complete what should be simple. They wrestle to articulate in writing what they know. They understand the content they wish to share but can't do so in a in a manner that is fluent. My team here are excellent I should say. having a young team (you too Di... ) I know how much work has gone into getting it right. There needs to be a source of pride in the correspondence you send.

Still what I see in other areas of my own businesses in relation to written correspondence is frightening (in and out).

This can't be just an Australian trait....can it? Is it a generational trait? am I just generalising?

Is the written word is an art form still or simply a potpourri of letters from which the recipient needs to somehow decipher a meaning.

I have taken my teaspoon of concrete and will move on

[LordAnubis]

Forget pen and paper. I have a fountain pen for writing in the office and when most people look at it it's as if i've shown them a light saber. My hand writing is **** house but i still enjoy writting a letter with real ink on real paper, folding it up, putting it in envelope, walking to post office, buying stamps, licking said stamps, posting letter, then 3 weeks letter getting a phone call from the person you sent the letter to.

What shits me more is the people on email and facebook etc who continue to type "wt fkn txt spk". Shits me to tears that does. I mean sure i understand writing like that in SMS, it serves a purpose, but not in an email or anything where you're not limited by character liimt.

[CaptainQuintero]

It you can't hit someone with it or eat it, kids don't seem bothered about it here nowadays it's not even their fault, education is not a priority for the government and the main parent is a TV set.

[DWC]

wat du U meen? I C no prblm heer

[DWC]

My problem with writing is my lack of keyboard skills. My thoughts run a lot faster than my fingers, so by the time I get something typed I'm too far ahead in my thoughts. I have to back up and see what I've written so far, then try to get it to flow into what I'm thinking now.

I'm usually ok for a paragraph or two, but longer writings are a challenge for me. I envy those that can effortlessly put their thoughts on paper.

Dan

[Jeremy Festa]

I hand wrote a little thank you note the other day. By the end of the 30 or 40 words I had written out, my hand was so sore. Then I thought back to when I was a naughty school boy, being punished and having to write out lines, one hundred times; "I will never hit Katherine again."

Goodtimes,

Jer

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[OZCUBAN]

I much prefer the written word and yes Rob your right but also a generational thing .

The thing I like about written letters notes correspondence is that someone has sat down and taken the time to articulate in a more human way a little note can be very touching and heartfelt

[Fuzz]

The written word is far more satisfying. I mean, would you rather have a "Kick Me" sign stuck to your bag that has been penned by somebody thoughtful enough to do it, or would you rather it be printed out by some soulless machine?

I personally think my handwriting is pretty atrocious (not as bad as a doctor's chicken scratch, though), and my thoughts too are too fast for my writing, but I do think it is a lost art that should be practiced more often.

I find it annoying that schools are focusing more on laptops/tablets instead of pen and paper. In my opinion, you don't need a laptop/tablet for school work until you're in high school. In my days, it wasn't about who had a tablet, but who had a mechanical pencil!

[ogus]

educational system and internet are making illiteracy acceptable. Television and video games and fast food made people impatient.

[oliverdst]

generation internet

[dogdays]

I have to say, that I am the worst at writing, and yes the written word is a art from . I just cant do it very well .

[amart]

Lost art it is.

[Rushman]

Not necessarily an age thing, but purely a fault of this generation of electronic bursts of communication we send to each other. I still fall prey to sending emails (much less text msgs) in short bursts of stream of consciousness, sans capital letters, sometimes sans punctuation.

I have a small collection of fountain pens (in US, in storage) that I used to use in my office one or two days a week for notes - now I use MS One Note across all my media.

Better, worse, who knows, but I think we are all worse for it.

[SaintLuis]

Couldn't agree more, Prez. I am a dinosaur given that I still prefer hand written notes. It's S.O.P. nowadays, and apparently perfectly acceptable to email a thank you or for sympathy/condolences! That drives me crazy. Seems so impersonal.

I'm actually filling out a bunch of unfortunate sympathy cards for an unusual rash of deaths over the past 3 weeks (six!), and while my handwriting isn't gorgeous, I hope it at least it shows that the sentiment is much or authentic and sincere.

More to your point, is that the millennial generation can't write a letter to save their life. I think composition including personal and business writing should be a required course, or even a seminar level program at every high school. It's not just an Australian condition. It's a pandemic! People don't even bother spell-checking any more, which should be making us better. Instead, it's making us worse!

Saint

[leftimatic]

I refuse to text speak. I will not do it, nor will my children. I don't care if my buddy has sent me twenty messages to my one. As a foreman and superintendent for construction reading timesheets was hell. Pure hell. Anyone over 40 was well written and the words were for the most part spelled correct. Anyone younger was awful. How do you give a high school graduate a raise, or promotion when his work for Tuesday states "Dugg howls and clenned up 8hs" Don't even ask them to spell parapets! I am proof reading this as I hit post.

[garbandz]

Spell Czheck............garbage in,garbage out.

The written letter,like the ability to read and use a map,are unfortunately going the way of the Dodo.

Sad to think that the pinnacle of human achievement these days a video game...........

[aes8]

I see it in my industry also and it's horrifying. I have used this as an indicator or a way to evaluate how complete, or incomplete a person's skill set is, or is not.

An even more frightening trend is the lack of reading and listening comprehension.

Still, when I see some "yungins" ..and not so "yungins" try to put something together it fills me with fear! They take an eternity to complete what should be simple. They wrestle to articulate in writing what they know. They understand the content they wish to share but can't do so in a in a manner that is fluent.

Still what I see in other areas of my own businesses in relation to written correspondence is frightening (in and out).

This can't be just an Australian trait....can it? Is it a generational trait? am I just generalising?

[CaptainQuintero]

I'm only 27 but even amongst my generation it's a badge of honour to be able to say something along the lines of: "Well the last time I read a book was when I was at school, and I was forced to!"

[leftimatic]

I'm only 27 but even amongst my generation it's a badge of honour to be able to say something along the lines of: "Well the last time I read a book was when I was at school, and I was forced to!"

My contemporaries were just the same. I even had a tendency to play stupid also. It wasn't till I went to get a real job that I smartened up. The unfortunate part of all this concern is that the school system (in Canada anyway) won't hold people back a grade when it is required. There is no reason to work for an education anymore.

Children need support from the home front more then ever before. But after a couple of videogame and instant gratification generations later children are getting no influence from either side.

But on the upside. I as a parent to two small kids am seeing a change in the parents, there are the TV babysitter type and then the lets calm down with a good book types. Luckily there are more and more book calmers showing up all the time.

Great post! I get more worked up over this than I do waiting for a cigar order. I think its time for the boys to write a letter to Grammy.

[Smallclub]

I, and a few others old farts like me, were banned from a french cigar board because of our remarks on the generalized wrong spelling/grammar on the forum. Some members there write sentences in which a word out of two is either misspelled, or poorly conjugated, or inappropriate... Add to this an erratic punctuation…

The moderators, of course, found it easier to ban us than to impose a proper writing that they don't master… this is pathetic.

[asmartbull]

2 years ago, I was part of a study comparing the word usage of boys and girls.

The teen age students watch a video and then we're asked to describe what they saw........EVERY girl (10) used 5x's more words than the boys and EVERY boy's (10) description was much clearer and easier to comprehend. This only confirmed a study which was on a National level...... the short version....KISS.....

[HarveyBoulevard]

In the esteemed words of Taggart, "God darnit, Mr. Ayala, you use your tongue prettier than a twenty dollar *****."

-- Mr. Taggart, Blazing Saddles (1974)

[...]

I, and a few others old farts like me, were banned from a french cigar board because of our remarks on the generalized wrong spelling/grammar on the forum. Some members there write sentences in which a word out of two is either misspelled, or poorly conjugated, or inappropriate... Add to this an erratic punctuation…

The moderators, of course, found it easier to ban us than to impose a proper writing that they don't master… this is pathetic.

Are you sure you weren't expelled for overly enthusiast use of sarcasm instead? I kid, I kid

[greenpimp]

I agree it's sickening. Weird Al REALLY nailed it in "Word Crimes." Worth a listen/watch, pretty hilarious.

[StingMeadery]

Me too, if penning I use a Waterman Edson, I learnt to write using fountain pen and stuck with it