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Originally Posted by rhetorical
What we have lost is elegance, and I see no hope of regaining that in the future. It is lost to the common man.
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Are you deliberately attempting to seduce me, or is this just a lucky by-product?
Back in the beginning of my career on the internet, whenever someone would attempt to explain something technical to me, I took to whining "I write with a fountain pen! I don't understand any of this!"
During a recent period of "taking back my own life" I resumed the long habit I once had of handwriting letters. I still prefer them. I like things I can touch. I like knowing that the recipient knows I went to the trouble of handwriting it, that I held it in my own hands. I fuss with stationary, note cards, stickers for the envelopes and select just the right stamps. Quaint, archaic...and very emotionally fulfilling. I use e-mail and frequently send e-cards, but...they're just not the same.
One of the "banner days" of my life as a parent was the day we sat down with the Encyclopedia Brittanica saleswoman and paid heavily for a *brand new, up-to-date* set. This was pre-internet and my children didn't quite understand why Mommy was in tears over the whole thing. It meant the world to me, that MY kids had a brand new set...at home.
I still prefer books to television. I don't knock the internet as an information source. But you do have to be able to read and spell to use it. (There is a search engine that enquires "do you mean
this?" when you search for something and nothing comes up, though. I don't know whether to be happy about that or not.)