Comments on: Cheers Hun: The Miserable State of Modern Correspondence

By: Brit

Brit — Sun, 25 Nov 2012 21:04:55 +0000

Be all this as it may, I think the time has come for all to accept that ‘Hi’ is just the email equivalent of ‘Dear’ and there’s no shame in using it.

By: Susan

Susan — Sat, 24 Nov 2012 18:36:31 +0000

Hi guys! Dearest Etymon. Marcel Wave (aka Kenny Everett) described English as “so darned strange” but I wonder if corresponding in French got any easier in the age of texting?!! LOL. Recusant, Omg! you sound like Cilla – and a compliment goes a long way, cheers mate. AOL is so lame, George – does it still exist? **// Worm. SeeYa!

By: Mr Slang

Mr Slang — Sat, 24 Nov 2012 16:07:11 +0000

My Dear Mrs Mouncey,

Autre temps, autre moeurs.

Believe me at all times with sincerity and respect, dear Madam, your faithful and obliged servant,

Etymon Slang

By: Worm

Worm — Sat, 24 Nov 2012 15:00:48 +0000

ROFL! Speling is 4 loosers XX

By: George

George — Sat, 24 Nov 2012 14:51:01 +0000

Years ago, I was working in a spare room where also was a tiny, beautiful woman of I suppose Central American birth doing I know not what. She looked up from her computer presently, and said (in standard US English), “I can’t stand AOL. Every time I call their Spanish-language support line, I get a bunch of guys with Argentine accents.”

By: Recusant

Recusant — Sat, 24 Nov 2012 14:03:56 +0000

Hiya Suze

And I thought it was only grumpy old curmudgeons like me that thought this way. If elegant and charming ladies like you do as well, it makes me feel much better about the whole business.

Ta ra babes! !

By: Susan

Susan — Sat, 24 Nov 2012 12:45:38 +0000

Hey Mahlerman! Yes, the first name business is another bugbear. After the initial inquisition, requiring a myriad of personal details, call centre operators ask “do you mind if I call you Susan.” They are always confused when I say “yes, I do mind actually.” I’ve noticed that the occasions when my title is respectfully used is usually when a cold caller rings up and asks in a northern accent, “is Miss Mounkey there please.” Again, my answer is “no.”

And you’re right about the ‘barely being able to speak’ too, though sometimes it’s a language thing, especially with Scottish or Indian accents (which they invariably are) – I find myself constantly saying “pardon” and “sorry, can you repeat that” – often many times over… until I have managed to work out a really weird sounding word.

Anyway, I suppose all this is secondary to making contact in the first place. I held on the line for 20 minutes yesterday trying to get through to Vodafone (in what sounded like India). When the operator answered she was laughing. I’m not sure what at. As for EDF Energy, the only communication possible is with an automated voice message. I have tried calling many times, but there is never an answer and my emails remain unanswered too. And don’t get me on to the subject of BT or banks…

By: Mahlerman

Mahlerman — Sat, 24 Nov 2012 10:34:39 +0000

Hey again! It’s Mahlerman!
Yes Susan, this whole subject is deeply dispiriting – and neither I nor my brood (4) are entirely free of criticism. I found myself broadly falling into line behind Nick Crews but, as a naval officer, perhaps he was not around to develop the close bonds with his children that I have been able to do. The familiarity you speak of seems to be a pestilence in modern life, and not always emanating from the mouths of youth. It is an almost daily torture to lift the telephone in my business and be assailed by some blight with ‘Hi X (shortened christian name), how are we (we?) today?’. I guess I am on a list somewhere, and their line-manager has suggested to them (wrongly) that if they ‘get chummy’, they are more likely to ‘convert’. The fact that they can barely speak, rather supports your written examples of the communication skills of ‘the young’. Do we blame the State, or the parents? Both probably.
Well babe – gotta go – missin’ you already………