10 old letter tips for e-mail

8/12/2019 10 Old Letter Tips for E-mail

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10 old letter-writing tips that work foremails

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(efore email) letter-writing guides were #est sellers) the faddy self-help #ooks of their day* There are still many things that we an learnfrom them #efore pressing +send+) says Simon ,arfield*

1* eep it #rief) make it simple. This advice first appeared in a Latin tractsomewhere between the 4th Century BC and 4th Century AD. A lettershould be "restricted" it advised. "Those that are too lon! not to mentiontoo inflated in style are not in any true sense letters at all but treatises."Correspondents were told to be both !raceful and plain. "A letters aim isto e#press friendship briefly and set out a simple sub$ect in simple terms.The man who utters sententious ma#ims and e#hortations seems to beno lon!er chattin! in a letter but preachin! from the pulpit."

.* "rite as you speak. This advice much favoured by %ane Austen isbelieved to have been initially promoted by Aristotle in about &'(BC. )is
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precise instructions do not survive but Artemon the editor of Aristotlesletters maintained that "a letter should be written in the same manner asa dialo!ue".

Aristotle carryin!

the mornin!s post

/* on't #e afraid to !rovel. *ant to say thanks for dinner+ Look to thewritin! manual by )u!h of Bolo!na from the ,-th Century. ne of/uropes epistolary masters )u!hs compliments knew no ceilin!. 0n aletter to another scribe he observes how under his !uidance "theuneducated are immediately cultivated the stutterers are immediatelyelo1uent the dull2witted are immediately enli!htened the twisted areimmediately made strai!ht". 3ay also do the trick when applyin! for a $obor a loan.


%#out the author

imon 5arfield is a $ournalist and author of To The Letter6 A %ourney Throu!h A 7anishin!

*orld

* (e spontaneous) #e free. 8ro!ressive 9rench ,'th Century essayist3ichel de 3ontai!ne su!!ested that formality spelled death to authentic
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correspondence. )e mistrusted letters that "have no other substance thana fine conte#ture of courteous words". 9ar better to be spontaneous andnot think too much. "The first word be!ets the second and so to the end"he wrote. 3ontai!ne really would have loved email not least our !rowin!tendency to dispense with formal !reetin!s and endin!s. "The letters ofthis a!e consist more in fine ed!es and prefaces than in matter" hear!ued. And for the closin! niceties "0 would with all my heart transfer itto another hand to add those lon! haran!ues offers and prayers that weplace at the bottom and should be !lad that some new custom woulddischar!e us of that trouble."


It is a very great inivilitie not to answer all the letters we do reeive)

eept they ome from our servants or very mean persons28hilip econd /arl of Chesterfield

3* Tell it like it is. 0n the !uide Cupids 3essen!er of ,'-: theanonymous author told his readers how to write to an unfaithful partner.There was really no point bein! polite. 9ar better to be bilious andven!eful. "Leprosie compared to thee is all health... neither thy bodie northy soule are free from the disease of shame and dis!race of the world."Try this ancient advice first and only then revert to the more modernsolution of a letter from a solicitor.

4* "rite #ak swiftly) but carefully. 0n ,';' 8hilip second /arl ofChesterfield wrote a book of instruction for his eldest dau!hter. ome ofit concerned the layout of a letter but therewas also advice we may heed today. )e advised his dau!hter to carefullyre2read what she had written before sendin! it checkin! her spellin! witha dictionary and makin! sure not to repeat words. But above all beprompt. "0t is a very !reat incivilitie not to answer all the letters we doreceive e#cept they come from our servants or very mean persons."


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Take out a lot of the vinegar and pepper) and put in honey instead2

Lewis Carroll

5* 6motional #lakmail may work with your parents. The LadiesComplete Letter2*riter of ,?'& offered "polite and improvin!" advice onall matters "that usually interest the 9air e#". There were template lettersabout the lastin! impact of scandal and the dan!ers of over2flirtatiousbehaviour and details of how to write to a woman who had lost herbeauty to smallpo#. But within the -?@ pa!es there was also somethin!that may be emailed today to anoverbearin! parent determined to match2make. "8unish me by any othermeans provoked authority can invent" an unidentified dau!hter pleadswith her mother. "Condemn me to pass the whole remainder of my daysin lonely solitude shut me from all society or banish me where only lionsand ti!ers dwell. 9ate cannot reach me in any shape so horrid as the

embraces of Andru!io."


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Think before you

post

7* (e more polite than you really want to be. Lewis Carroll loved letter2writin! so much that in ,;;; he patented somethin! called The*onderland a special case with a pocket to house every denomination ofposta!e stamp. ou bou!ht the case and you !ot a free booklet entitled/i!ht or ine *ise *ords About Letter2*ritin! some of it concerned withnot missin! the last post. But there was also somethin! we can use today2 advice on showin! restraint. otwithstandin! rule five 2 tell it like it is 2

Carroll warned his readers to think very carefully before !ettin! involvedin a Trollopian war. "0f you have written anythin! that may offend put theletter aside for a day and then read it as if you were the recipient" hewrote. "This will often lead to your writin! it all over a!ain takin! out a lotof the vine!ar and pepper and puttin! in honey instead." Carrolls otherrules6

if your correspondent makes a severe remark either i!nore it or soften your

response

if your friend is friendly make your reply ever friendlier

8* on't forget the paper clip. Carroll had one more piece of wisdom asapplicable now as ,-@ years a!o. 0f you write that youre enclosin! ache1ue or someone elses letter "leave off writin! for a moment 2 !o and!et the document referred to 2 and put it into the envelope. therwiseyou are pretty certain to find it lyin! about after the post has !one" 9or"che1ue" read "email attachment".


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Dickens6 "9olios

of trash are lavished on bosom friends"

10* The young get all the blame. 0n All The ear Eound the 7ictorian$ournal "conducted" by Charles Dickens a contributor wrote a letter2writin! !uide that contained the one nu!!et common to almost all the!uides that had preceded it 2 write le!ibly. But what of those who can

write but dont+ "This is more !enerally the fault of youn! people andarises chiefly from thou!htless selfishness. Their thou!hts and their timeare en!rossed with their own pleasures and pursuits. 0t is more amusin!and interestin! to write to youn! people of their own a!e than to writeduty letters to parents and relatives." Do these terrible people not write atall+ "A shabby ill2considered stilted letter is written at wide intervals tothose whose whole life has been spent in their service while folios oftrash are lavished on bosom friends to whom they owe no dutywhatsoever." Te#tin! was only a century awayF


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9S If all else fails send fish. Gey To /n!lish Letter *ritin! was a !uidethat could have been written by Dou!las Adams. But it appeared in ,:&;in China and its authors were Chen Gwan i and *han! hih. HnlikeAn!lo2American !uides its letter templates did not consider how best toaddress a duchess. 0nstead the e#amples were both more mundane andconceptually more profound. )ow for e#ample should one write to anewlywed+ Like this6 "0 have heard from 3r B that you were married to3iss C last *ednesday. 0 be! your acceptance of the accompanyin! fish

as a triflin! token of my affection." And when that marria!e provesfruitful+ "Allow me to con!ratulate you on the birth of a child in yourfamily. 0 be! you will accept the accompanyin! basket of mi#ed fish which0 send you in celebration of the happy event." *ould a promotionperhaps in the le!al profession also yield a fish !ift+ adly not. "ir 0learn with pleasure that you have been admitted to the bar and haveestablished yourself in private chambers. 8lease accept theaccompanyin! bicycle as a sli!ht token of my wishes for your futuresuccess."

This !iftin! advice has a modern e1uivalent in the form of dreaded e2cards and te#t emoticons. Eather less satisfyin! than a !ood piece of codor a ,-2speed thou!h.

10 old letter tips for e-mail

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