For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for January 03, 2018

The reach-around never works

somehow, you cannot beat modern technology

Even back then it was happening. And now? We could lose the ability to write if we let it. Though typing with thumbs seems incomplete. Using all 10 fingers is better.

They are already mastering one of the most important strategies of a corporate executive: the form letter! Michael even had a corporate-type response!

Ellie, it is the thought that counts. Execution is secondary

My sister made my niece write Thank You Notes by hand and the computer was off-limits.

Now in 2018, there’s an app. or a template for those Thank You Notes. No need to even type !

One of my daughter’s prized possessions is a letter from Taylor Swift. When my daughter was 6 she wrote a letter to Ms. Swift and got this reply. While the letter itself was computer-generated (with a nice picture at the top), it was very chatty and Taylor-esque, but the real topper – and what makes it her prized possession – is the hand-written note added to the top…with my daughter’s name on it! My daughter’s first reaction: “SHE SPELLED MY NAME RIGHT!!!”

One of my daughter’s prized possessions is a letter from Taylor Swift. When my daughter was 6 she wrote a letter to Ms. Swift and got this reply. While the letter itself was computer-generated (with a nice picture at the top), it was very chatty and Taylor-esque, but the real topper – and what makes it her prized possession – is the hand-written note added to the top…with my daughter’s name on it! My daughter’s first reaction: “SHE SPELLED MY NAME RIGHT!!!”

At least Michael and Elizabeth made the effort to write the letters, even though they used the computer and signed the notes by hand.

As to the comments about cursive, my 23-year old grandson can neither read nor write cursive.

Some schools found it short sighted and returned to cursive eduation.

A few years ago, I worked for a company that was very opposed to computers. One of the men responded to a supplier with a computer generated message. In response, he got a rebuke from our CEO saying THIS IS NOT BUSINESS-LIKE - CORRESPONDENCE MUST BE TYPED! (Later, the company did go to computers – because one of our customers Ford demanded computer generated data)

I remember a story on Etiquette Hell where a girl had a huge amount of thank you notes to write after her Bat Mitzvah. She wrote them in small batches in between homework and studying for end of school year exams. Eventually she finished them all. Then a woman at their synagogue asked her mother if she had written some of the notes because she noticed some other people at the synagogue had much better handwriting on their notes then she got. Mom replied, "Nope, she wrote them all. You got one of the ones she wrote after she broke her finger playing softball and didn’t want to delay finishing the notes.

The tradition in my house was that you wrote a thank you note to each person giving you a gift who was not there to witness you open it. The thank you notes were on little cards intended to send a sentiment that was about 2-3 sentences tops.

These full length letters are not what I would expect for thank you notes and a letter to Auntie Bev with whom they just spend Christmas and would have seen all the Patterson gifts opened is a little confusing. The next confusing part is how any of these letters could be repeated by computer for people, unless the people all gave the kids the same gifts.

Lynn’s Notes:

I often used the strip in serious ways. Here, I was telling young people that the words “thank you” are never out of style. It was fun to hide a “lecture” in a series of drawings, dialogue and punch lines.

And if they had document assembly software, they’d only have to enter the number of letters they wanted, and the names and addresses of each addressee. Next year, they wouldn’t even have to re-enter the names and addresses of the recipients, as it would already be stored in the program.