Monday, October 24, 2011
More letter lovers!
Awesome site that posts super cool letters, check it out! Letters of Note. Thanks Nora for the link!
Sunday, August 7, 2011
Letter Etiquette from 1954
A charming man named Professor Alan C. Ross, of Birmingham University, published an essay called "U and Non-U: An Essay in Sociological Linguistics" in 1954. "U" stood for the English Upper Class, and Non-U for the non-Upper Class. He had much to say on the proper way to address envelopes and end letters, such as:
"On envelopes, gentlemen put Esq. after the names of persons who are, or who might wish to be considered, gentlemen, whether in fact armigerous or not. Esq. is, however, not used of oneself, e.g. neither on a card (which bears Mr.) nor on a stamped-and-addressed envelope enclosed for reply (which has merely A-- B. X-- or A.B.X-- without prefix). Knowledge of at least one initial of the recipient's name is, of course, a prerequisite for addressing him with Esq. If the writer has not this minimum knowledge (and cannot, or is too lazy to obtain it) he will be in a quandary."
"Postal addresses. It is non-U to place the name of a house in inverted commas (as 'Fairmeads') or to write the number in full, either without or (especially) with inverted commas (as Two - worse 'Two' - St. Patrick's Avenue). The names of many houses are themselves non-U; the idea U-address is P-- Q-- R--, where P-- is a place-name, Q-- a describer, and R-- the name (or abbreviation) of a county, as Shinwell Hall, Salop. But, today, few gentlemen can maintain this standard and they often live in houses with non-U names such as Fairmeads or El Nido."
"Letter endings. The U-rules for ending letters are very strict; failure to observe them usually implies non-U-ness, sometimes only youth. In general, the endings of letters are conditioned by their beginnings. Thus a beginning (Dear) Sir requires the ending Yours faithfully, unless the writer hopes to meet the recipient when Yours very truly may be used. Acquaintances who begin letters with Dear Mr. X-- sign them Yours sincerely or Yours very sincerely; perversely, the latter ending is less cordial than the former. People who know each other really well will begin Dear A-- or Dear X-- (males only) and sign Yours ever. The ending Yours is often used even by gentlemen if they are in doubt as to which ending is appropriate."
- Mitford, Nancy. (Ed.) Noblesse Oblige: Sophisticated Fun About the Speech and Manners of the English Upper Class. P.62 - 67.
Did you get all that? There will be a quiz.
"On envelopes, gentlemen put Esq. after the names of persons who are, or who might wish to be considered, gentlemen, whether in fact armigerous or not. Esq. is, however, not used of oneself, e.g. neither on a card (which bears Mr.) nor on a stamped-and-addressed envelope enclosed for reply (which has merely A-- B. X-- or A.B.X-- without prefix). Knowledge of at least one initial of the recipient's name is, of course, a prerequisite for addressing him with Esq. If the writer has not this minimum knowledge (and cannot, or is too lazy to obtain it) he will be in a quandary."
"Postal addresses. It is non-U to place the name of a house in inverted commas (as 'Fairmeads') or to write the number in full, either without or (especially) with inverted commas (as Two - worse 'Two' - St. Patrick's Avenue). The names of many houses are themselves non-U; the idea U-address is P-- Q-- R--, where P-- is a place-name, Q-- a describer, and R-- the name (or abbreviation) of a county, as Shinwell Hall, Salop. But, today, few gentlemen can maintain this standard and they often live in houses with non-U names such as Fairmeads or El Nido."
"Letter endings. The U-rules for ending letters are very strict; failure to observe them usually implies non-U-ness, sometimes only youth. In general, the endings of letters are conditioned by their beginnings. Thus a beginning (Dear) Sir requires the ending Yours faithfully, unless the writer hopes to meet the recipient when Yours very truly may be used. Acquaintances who begin letters with Dear Mr. X-- sign them Yours sincerely or Yours very sincerely; perversely, the latter ending is less cordial than the former. People who know each other really well will begin Dear A-- or Dear X-- (males only) and sign Yours ever. The ending Yours is often used even by gentlemen if they are in doubt as to which ending is appropriate."
- Mitford, Nancy. (Ed.) Noblesse Oblige: Sophisticated Fun About the Speech and Manners of the English Upper Class. P.62 - 67.
Did you get all that? There will be a quiz.
Thursday, August 4, 2011
From a Butler to the homesick son of the family, 1911
Oh Tall and merciful Mr Osbert,
I hope you have not erred nor stayed from your way like a lost lamb. Nor has followed the devices and desires of your own heart (where chocolate and fruit is concerned) nor offended against the laws of the Railway company, nor has done those things which you ought not to have done or left undone those things which you ought to have done but hope you arrived at Snettisham in peace and I trust your stay at Ken Hill will be joyful and when you depart that place you may safely come to your home and eternal joy and lemonade.
Trusting you are in the pink of condition, Sir George is A1.
Yours obediently,
Henry Moat
I hope you have not erred nor stayed from your way like a lost lamb. Nor has followed the devices and desires of your own heart (where chocolate and fruit is concerned) nor offended against the laws of the Railway company, nor has done those things which you ought not to have done or left undone those things which you ought to have done but hope you arrived at Snettisham in peace and I trust your stay at Ken Hill will be joyful and when you depart that place you may safely come to your home and eternal joy and lemonade.
Trusting you are in the pink of condition, Sir George is A1.
Yours obediently,
Henry Moat
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Monday, June 27, 2011
Paravion Press!
I stole the quote in the last post from the website of Paravion Press, a super-cool company that I just discovered! They are a small press in the back of a bookshop on a Grecian island, and what makes them so lovely is that they make their books (postcard-sized editions of classics and short stories mostly) specifically to be sent through the mail from friend to friend! "To date we have published eleven titles, seven of which feature specially commissioned illustrations. At the beginning of each is a page ‘for your correspondence,’ in case you want to add a few words of your own, and every book comes with its own envelope, so it’s ready to mail onward." I love this company. And their books are only $10. Shipping may be expensive seeing as it's coming from Greece though - I have yet to order anything, just had fun looking around their website.
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