[lg policy] To Whom It May Concern: Today is National Letter Writing Day

[Baron, Dennis E]

There's a new post on the Web of Language--

To Whom It May Concern:

This letter is to inform you that today, Dec. 7, is National Letter Writing Day<http://blog.americanhistory.si.edu/osaycanyousee/2013/12/a-letter-is-worth-a-thousand-e-mails-write-one-for-national-letter-writing-day.html>.

To wit: email, tweets, and texts may be the communications media of choice in the present digital age, but compared to traditional forms of correspondence, that is to say, the letter, of which this present missive is an exemplar, they are impersonal.

It is not these popular communication technologies, but only the letter, that is capable of transmitting a writer's personal sentiments unmediated by technology. Only said letter may be composed thoughtfully by hand, using the finest writing instruments created by skilled craftspeople and robotic technology, and the best papers, created in pollution-free factories on other continents by underpaid workers working twelve to sixteen hour shifts.

It is only said letter that is stamped, mailed, and hand delivered by postal couriers not stayed by snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor gloom of night, nor workplace violence, from the swift completion of their appointed rounds. . . .

Read the full post on the Web of Language: http:bit.ly/weblan


Dennis Baron
Professor of English and Linguistics
Department of English
University of Illinois
608 S. Wright St.
Urbana, IL 61801

mobile: 217-840-0776
English Dept: 217-333-2390
fax: 217-333-4321

http://www.illinois.edu/goto/debaron<http://illinois.edu/goto/debaron>

read the Web of Language:
http://www.illinois.edu/goto/weboflanguage<http://illinois.edu/goto/weboflanguage>

read the Web of Language:
http://www.illinois.edu/goto/weboflanguage<http://illinois.edu/goto/weboflanguage>








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