# Cryptic email message - your opinion on its meaning **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 16, 2008, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cryptic-email-message-your-opinion-on-its-meaning/463796 "2008-09-16T03:55:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2008, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cryptic-email-message-your-opinion-on-its-meaning/463796/21 "2008-09-16T19:09:58Z")
> [@pantheon](#): > > Now be honest- we all see your sig line. Were you trying to sell him flood insurance? Again? 😛 Hahaha! Nah, I’m in the flood _study_ business, not the flood _insurance_ business. 🙂 **Ivylass** : last night it was too late to call him, today I’ve been busy with meetings etc. I may call this afternoon, just to see. **KSO** : I’d hate to get Hubby riled up about “Brother sent my wife an angry email!” or something like that. Also, Hubby doesn’t use the home computer, and wouldn’t know how to send an email from it. **muldoonthief** : Could be, although usually Hubby kvetches enough about that sort of thing that I know what’s going on. Possibility. These two have a kind of standoffish brotherly love relationship going on. Age difference of about 10 years may explain that. At this point I’m leaning towards mistaken identity/wrong recipient as the cause of the mysterious message. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2008, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cryptic-email-message-your-opinion-on-its-meaning/463796/22 "2008-09-16T20:22:54Z")
> [@NinetyWt](#): > > **KSO** : I’d hate to get Hubby riled up about “Brother sent my wife an angry email!” or something like that. Also, Hubby doesn’t use the home computer, and wouldn’t know how to send an email from it. You outed yourself! You’re Cindy McCain! (Sorry, I couldn’t resist.) I don’t think there’s any reason to get Hubby riled up, but you should certainly clue him in that BIL sent you an odd response to an e-mail, in case he wants to handle it himself. ---
**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2008, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cryptic-email-message-your-opinion-on-its-meaning/463796/23 "2008-09-16T21:38:30Z")
> [@ivylass](#): > > You outed yourself! You’re Cindy McCain! (Sorry, I couldn’t resist.) Hee! Funny, 'cause BIL’s wife is a Mayor. And they are staunch Republicans. 😛 > [@](#): > > I don’t think there’s any reason to get Hubby riled up, but you should certainly clue him in that BIL sent you an odd response to an e-mail, in case he wants to handle it himself. I hear what you’re saying, but the situation between these two is weird. Their history is complicated by BIL’s self-imposed extreme standards of ‘family honor’ and 50’s-era ideas about societal norms. It’s Faulknerian in scope. For example, Hubby is concerned about _his_ son behaving in a certain manner in order not to ‘dishonor the family name’. He feels that BIL is constantly watching to make sure that Hubby has his family in order. Better to let sleeping dogs lie. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2008, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cryptic-email-message-your-opinion-on-its-meaning/463796/24 "2008-09-16T22:15:23Z")
Send him another one and see what happens. Nothing about the current events or anything; maybe some sort of human oddity story. He can’t fault you if he doesn’t communicate clearly that he doesn’t want you to send stuff or that he doesn’t want you to send certain things. I’d give it a go. ---
**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2008, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cryptic-email-message-your-opinion-on-its-meaning/463796/25 "2008-09-16T23:16:15Z")
> [@Kalhoun](#): > > Send him another one and see what happens. This is the one I replied with last night: > [@](#): > > Could you please help me out here, and tell me what this means? I can think of several ways to take it, but I can’t think of anything I’ve done to precipitate any of them. Thank you. > > _Second time. No third strike. Final email._ I’ve not gotten a reply. I may call in a bit … ---
**Author:** ![A\_shameful\_cracka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ebca7d/32.png) [@A\_shameful\_cracka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A_shameful_cracka)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2008, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cryptic-email-message-your-opinion-on-its-meaning/463796/26 "2008-09-16T23:25:37Z")
I hate it when people forward me news stories without adding anything to the email, maybe that’s what got him mad. I also don’t like it when people send me an email which they also CCed to a bunch of people I don’t know - it’s essentially giving out your email address to a bunch of other people, who may decide to include you in their next mass emailing, which may also include someone who gives email addresses out to spammers. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2008, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cryptic-email-message-your-opinion-on-its-meaning/463796/27 "2008-09-16T23:27:56Z")
Did you forget his birthday? ---
**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2008, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cryptic-email-message-your-opinion-on-its-meaning/463796/28 "2008-09-16T23:29:00Z")
> [@A\_shameful\_cracka](#): > > I hate it when people forward me news stories without adding anything to the email, maybe that’s what got him mad. I also don’t like it when people send me an email which they also CCed to a bunch of people I don’t know - it’s essentially giving out your email address to a bunch of other people, who may decide to include you in their next mass emailing, which may also include someone who gives email addresses out to spammers. Look here, you cracka!!! 😛 Just kidding. I thought of the email address thingy too, but this is the same list of people whom he just sent the email about the inauguration thing in Iraq. So, they already had his email. **RNATB** : No, he was irritated that we _did_ I think! 😛 Calling him in ten! ---
**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2008, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cryptic-email-message-your-opinion-on-its-meaning/463796/29 "2008-09-17T01:25:53Z")
I called BIL on the way to Yoga. And I said that it looked like I owed him an apology, that evidently my email or something about it had offended him. He said that he didn’t like me emailing him along with a list of other people. I can understand that, that’s why my ‘fun’ email addy is different from my ‘work’ one. I didn’t point out to them that this was the same list of people he had sent the Iraq email to. I also didn’t ask him why it was O.K. for him to do it to me, but not vice versa. I really wanted to! But, in the interests of peace, I didn’t. He also reminded me that, about a year ago, I had replied (“reply all”, all his friends were on the list) to an urban legend email from him with a Snopes cite, correcting him. He didn’t like the fact that I had corrected him “in front of everyone”. I honestly had forgotten about it. So my upthread comment is incorrect. He doesn’t get much sympathy from me on that one. If you’re going to send me a UL which is easily looked up and debunked, prepared to get corrected. I apologized again, told him I was sorry I hurt his feelings, and “see you later - bye”. The lessons I have learned: BIL carries grudges. He does not communicate well. (I never recieved a reply to my mail asking clarification.) It’s ok for him to do potentially irritating things but not ok for others to do the same thing. And now y’all know as much as I do ! ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2008, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cryptic-email-message-your-opinion-on-its-meaning/463796/30 "2008-09-17T01:27:38Z")
He sounds like an asshole. Ah well, presumably that isn’t news to you. ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2008, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cryptic-email-message-your-opinion-on-its-meaning/463796/31 "2008-09-17T01:58:47Z")
Sounds to me like a cranky old man. You’d best stay offa his lawn. ---
**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2008, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cryptic-email-message-your-opinion-on-its-meaning/463796/32 "2008-09-17T02:27:59Z")
I think so! He just called Hubby and demanded to know “We’re not going to have a falling out over this, are we ???”. Poor Hubby was trying to use a stick to see how much fuel was in the tractor. “No, Brother, everythings ok, lemme get back to work!” Cranky old man indeed! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2008, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cryptic-email-message-your-opinion-on-its-meaning/463796/33 "2008-09-17T02:55:27Z")
> [@NinetyWt](#): > > … He didn’t like the fact that I had corrected him “in front of everyone”… > He doesn’t get much sympathy from me on that one. If you’re going to send me a UL which is easily looked up and debunked, prepared to get corrected. I think you should stay with this. Tell him you subscribe to a service that automatically flags brainless e-mails and sends out cites proving they are wrong. If he doesn’t want to look like a fool in front of everyone, he should check Snopes before emailing. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2008, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cryptic-email-message-your-opinion-on-its-meaning/463796/34 "2008-09-17T03:05:20Z")
> [@NinetyWt](#): > > He also reminded me that, about a year ago, I had replied (“reply all”, all his friends were on the list) to an urban legend email from him with a Snopes cite, correcting him. He didn’t like the fact that I had corrected him “in front of everyone”. I honestly had forgotten about it. So my upthread comment is incorrect. He’s 60. They didn’t have fact-checking in his day. ---
**Author:** ![Celyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9dc877/32.png) [@Celyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Celyn)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2008, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cryptic-email-message-your-opinion-on-its-meaning/463796/35 "2008-09-17T03:19:40Z")
Wow, well I’m glad that the mystery was solved, but BIL does sound a horribly irritable type. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2008, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cryptic-email-message-your-opinion-on-its-meaning/463796/36 "2008-09-17T04:06:22Z")
I’d do both of you a favour and indeed make it the final email. Cranky old bastard. ETA: Forgot to shout out in solidarity for people getting told off by brothers-in-law about Snopes fact-checking. My asshole of a brother-in-law got pissy with me a little while ago about that, too. Last email he EVER gets from me. ---
**Author:** ![neutron\_star](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/51bf81/32.png) [@neutron\_star](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neutron_star)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2008, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cryptic-email-message-your-opinion-on-its-meaning/463796/37 "2008-09-17T04:45:09Z")
> [@A\_shameful\_cracka](#): > > I hate it when people forward me news stories without adding anything to the email, maybe that’s what got him mad. I also don’t like it when people send me an email which they also CCed to a bunch of people I don’t know - it’s essentially giving out your email address to a bunch of other people, who may decide to include you in their next mass emailing, which may also include someone who gives email addresses out to spammers. Helpful hint: blind carbon copy (the BCC box in your email program): > [@](#): > > In the context of e-mail, blind carbon copy (abbreviated BCC and sometimes referred to as Blind Courtesy Copy or Blank Carbon Copy) refers to the practice of sending a message to multiple recipients in such a way that what they receive does not contain the complete list of recipients. > [@NinetyWt](#): > > I didn’t point out to them that this was the same list of people he had sent the Iraq email to. I also didn’t ask him why it was O.K. for him to do it to me, but not vice versa. I really wanted to! But, in the interests of peace, I didn’t. Damn. You’ve got more self-control on that kind of thing than I do, that’s for sure! Good on you for keeping the peace. ---
**Author:** ![maggenpye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecc23a/32.png) [@maggenpye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maggenpye)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2008, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cryptic-email-message-your-opinion-on-its-meaning/463796/38 "2008-09-17T05:24:14Z")
> [@neutron\_star](#): > > Helpful hint: blind carbon copy (the BCC box in your email program) I had someone get pissy with me about multiple addresses - so I used the BCC function and had two guys on the (long) list assume I had singled them out for _special_ attention. :smack: **NinetyWt** , sound like what my mum calls a self-weeding garden. Your life may be just that little bit easier now that he’s removed himself from your orbit (if not his brother’s). What’s your plan if he sends you another multi-addr email? ---
**Author:** ![corkboard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@corkboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/corkboard)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2008, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cryptic-email-message-your-opinion-on-its-meaning/463796/39 "2008-09-17T13:06:39Z")
> [@NinetyWt](#): > > I didn’t point out to them that this was the same list of people he had sent the Iraq email to. I wouldn’t have let him get away with this, but that’s just me. I wouldn’t have asked why it was OK for him to do it and not you; that’s just feeding the flames unnecessarily, but I probably would have politely informed him that you didn’t think he’d mind being on the list since it was his list in the first place. At least it might make him rethink his high and mighty attitude a little. It sounds like the guy’s going to be a cranky jackass either way, so no harm, no foul. ---
**Author:** ![nd\_n8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/439d5e/32.png) [@nd\_n8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nd_n8)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2008, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cryptic-email-message-your-opinion-on-its-meaning/463796/40 "2008-09-17T13:19:09Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > He’s 60. They didn’t have fact-checking in his day. To be fair there weren’t too many facts to be checked, what with history books being much thinner and most encyclopedias only needing one volume. 😛 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cryptic-email-message-your-opinion-on-its-meaning/463796.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cryptic-email-message-your-opinion-on-its-meaning/463796.md?page=3)