Old-school etiquette is the new cool

This is why there is nothing more enjoyable than receiving a hand-written note from someone else.  Good old-fashioned letters are sadly fading into the distance as email and weblogs – “blogs” – take over.  When Tim Berners-Lee invented the Internet in 1989, he possibly never imagined the way his Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) was going to change everything in the world of social communications decades later.

But as the keyboard becomes more powerful than ink, it is also ringing in a kind of death of penmanship. Here at Girlosophy, we think that is really sad. It’s easy to overlook the personal element that is so crucial to our bonding with others: handwriting, choice of stationery, personal flourishes – all are unique hallmarks of our personality and create an ambience. They are signs to be read on many levels.

As genteel an activity as serving afternoon tea, formal letter writing as a means of communication is a dying art form. The old school ways are waning. But far from crying about it, those of us who love vinyl and vintage clothing and handcrafted items and artisanship are fighting back!

“It’s the personal element that is crucial to our bonding with others: handwriting, choice of stationery, personal flourishes – all are unique hallmarks of our personality. They are signs to be read on many levels.”

Personal letters are usually (and should be) handwritten. They are often intimate in content.  They are designed to be revelatory – the beauty and the vast difference between sending a handwritten note or sending a typed (business only) or electronic.

But here at Girlosophy, we believe that Old School Etiquette is the New Cool. It’s too easy to post what – and where – you’re up to on your facebook wall. There will always be a place for those kind of communications – we’re not facebook haters! – social media just shouldn’t be the only type of communication in your repertoire.

For instance: if you’re holidaying in the Seychelles (lucky!) and I get the same status update that your 4,952 ‘friends’ get about your vacay, then I may not feel that special. If, on the other hand I get a salt-stained postcard that’s is all the way from North Island (where Kate and Wills honeymooned, no less!) with pretty stamps and post-markings on it, that’s a different story. It says, ‘hey, I was thinking of you while I was lolling about on a perfect beach in Paradise’. It is a lot more profound. And says even more about the way you view the relationship between us.

It’s about the extra mile you go to for those whom you are (or would perhaps like to be) close to. Writing and then actually posting a letter or postcard to someone takes effort and commitment: you have to select the card or stationery, write the message (or story) in your own script, finish it, furnish the correct address details, add stamps and get to a post box or post office to send it.  Phew!  But it’s so worth the effort.  Take a look at this one, which would not be the same in an email:

My sweet Katai,
I have gone north.  Come to Chiang Saen with my friend who brings this.  I will meet you there Saturday at Tang Guest House.  Be careful.  Always remember what we say; Eyes open, mouth shut.  And that I love you. … Your mad dog. 
Charles Nicholl, from Borderlines: A Journey in Thailand and Burma

Now, who wouldn’t want to get a letter like that?

Photographer: Geraldine Mills