# Things that are inappropriate to communicate by text or email **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 7, 2011, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-inappropriate-to-communicate-by-text-or-email/566785 "2011-01-07T20:21:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Hedda\_Rosa](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hedda_rosa/32/1204_2.png) [@Hedda\_Rosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hedda_Rosa)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-inappropriate-to-communicate-by-text-or-email/566785/21 "2011-01-07T22:05:18Z")
My mom announced her engagement to me over text. ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-inappropriate-to-communicate-by-text-or-email/566785/22 "2011-01-07T22:07:47Z")
> [@Hedda\_Rosa](#): > > My mom announced her engagement to me over text. Well, mazel tov, you two crazy kids. ---
**Author:** ![MysteryFellow63427](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e4f/32.png) [@MysteryFellow63427](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MysteryFellow63427)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-inappropriate-to-communicate-by-text-or-email/566785/23 "2011-01-07T22:09:48Z")
Asking someone out (for the first time). Call me old-fashioned. ---
**Author:** ![PoorYorick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecccb3/32.png) [@PoorYorick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PoorYorick)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-inappropriate-to-communicate-by-text-or-email/566785/24 "2011-01-07T22:56:41Z")
> [@Wilbo523](#): > > I think I would have asked him to call me ASAP as you had something urgent that you had to talk to him about. I couldn’t have put the news of the death in the e-mail. Just couldn’t. Reminds me of the old [“Your cat’s on the roof”](http://purpleslinky.com/jokes/joke-your-cat-is-on-the-roof/) joke. ---
**Author:** ![Hedda\_Rosa](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hedda_rosa/32/1204_2.png) [@Hedda\_Rosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hedda_Rosa)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-inappropriate-to-communicate-by-text-or-email/566785/25 "2011-01-07T22:59:56Z")
> [@MsWhatsit](#): > > Well, mazel tov, you two crazy kids. You know as I posted that I noticed it sounded ambiguous but I couldn’t think of how to reword it. “My mom, to me announced her engagement by text”? “To me, my mom announced her engagement by text”? I guess “My mom texted me to announce her engagement” would have been best. /hijack ---
**Author:** ![Shark\_Sandwich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f04885/32.png) [@Shark\_Sandwich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shark_Sandwich)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-inappropriate-to-communicate-by-text-or-email/566785/26 "2011-01-07T23:03:55Z")
ur curtians r open & thats a pretty bra ---
**Author:** ![Surly\_Chick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Surly\_Chick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surly_Chick)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-inappropriate-to-communicate-by-text-or-email/566785/27 "2011-01-07T23:28:42Z")
My friend’s (no, really!) ex-boyfriend texted her from the Bahamas telling her he had just cheated on her. I guess he wanted to make a clean break so he could cheat without feeling guilty about it the rest of his vacation. ---
**Author:** ![lezlers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/258eb7/32.png) [@lezlers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lezlers)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2011, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-inappropriate-to-communicate-by-text-or-email/566785/28 "2011-01-08T00:19:50Z")
I found out my grandfather passed away via a facebook status update by my cousin. Apparently it didn’t occur to her that some of the family members she’s facebook friends with might not have been notified within the first hour of his death. I also found out my sister in law miscarried via an email from my mom. ---
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2011, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-inappropriate-to-communicate-by-text-or-email/566785/29 "2011-01-08T00:20:30Z")
When I was in Malaysia a few years back, there was a campaign going to try to persuade men not to divorce their wives [by text](http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/3100143.stm). ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2011, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-inappropriate-to-communicate-by-text-or-email/566785/30 "2011-01-08T00:48:21Z")
Not quite to the OP, but many years ago, my mom and I came home to a rather unexpected voicemail message from my grandmother about my father (my parents had been divorced for several years when this happened): “Hello?..Hello?..Kathy?..Hello?..well, the police called. James passed away…hello?..OK, bye.” Sadness at the time aside, my mom and I have laughed about that in subsequent years. A very odd way to learn about someone’s death. ---
**Author:** ![Soliloquy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5ac83/32.png) [@Soliloquy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soliloquy)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2011, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-inappropriate-to-communicate-by-text-or-email/566785/31 "2011-01-08T01:25:20Z")
When Michael Jackson died, my brother sent my mother and step dad a text message that said “Jackson died.” My (then 4 months old) son’s name is Jackson. I got the most ridiculously panicked phone call from my mother after that message. Well done, brother. ---
**Author:** ![Silver\_Fire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e4f/32.png) [@Silver\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Fire)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2011, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-inappropriate-to-communicate-by-text-or-email/566785/32 "2011-01-08T02:34:15Z")
> [@Soliloquy](#): > > When Michael Jackson died, my brother sent my mother and step dad a text message that said “Jackson died.” Wow, that sucks. Made me LOL but probably not fun for your parents… 🙂 > [@DCnDC](#): > > I’d say that telling someone an immediate family member has died by text or email has gotta be way up there. One of my dad’s sisters contacted my mother via Facebook chat last May when my dad’s brother died. We already knew about it anyway because my sister’s friend (whose father worked with my uncle) had already called but still… shitty. “hey, SIL! BIL’s dead. I need fed agents for MW, plz.” ---
**Author:** ![missred](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/missred/32/14096_2.png) [@missred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/missred)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2011, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-inappropriate-to-communicate-by-text-or-email/566785/33 "2011-01-08T03:59:11Z")
“The ept is positive.” ETA: Especially if this is unwelcome news. ---
**Author:** ![rbroome](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/838e76/32.png) [@rbroome](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rbroome)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2011, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-inappropriate-to-communicate-by-text-or-email/566785/34 "2011-01-09T16:12:27Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > Inspired by [this](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=592085) thread, what sorts of things do you think are wholly inappropriate/just plain wrong to communicate by text or email? > > I’d say that telling someone an immediate family member has died by text or email has gotta be way up there. > > What else? anything you want to keep private. anything with emotional baggage. ---
**Author:** ![Moonlitherial](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4bbf92/32.png) [@Moonlitherial](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonlitherial)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2011, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-inappropriate-to-communicate-by-text-or-email/566785/35 "2011-01-09T16:21:59Z")
> [@iftheresaway](#): > > sry i gave u the herp > [@ReticulatingSplines](#): > > What a shame too, mass e-mail could make this task so much easier and faster. Just please use BCC 😃 ---
**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:** [January 9, 2011, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-inappropriate-to-communicate-by-text-or-email/566785/36 "2011-01-09T19:48:04Z")
> [@Soliloquy](#): > > When Michael Jackson died, my brother sent my mother and step dad a text message that said “Jackson died.” > > My (then 4 months old) son’s name is Jackson. I got the most ridiculously panicked phone call from my mother after that message. > > Well done, brother. I’m torn between “most insensitive guy alive” and “most clueless guy alive.” Did he excuse himself by saying, “Well, weren’t you glad when you found out your baby grandson was still alive?” ---
**Author:** ![Mops](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mops/32/16494_2.png) [@Mops](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mops)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2011, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-inappropriate-to-communicate-by-text-or-email/566785/37 "2011-01-09T20:21:12Z")
nm ---
**Author:** ![Soliloquy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5ac83/32.png) [@Soliloquy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soliloquy)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2011, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-inappropriate-to-communicate-by-text-or-email/566785/38 "2011-01-09T22:23:49Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > I’m torn between “most insensitive guy alive” and “most clueless guy alive.” Did he excuse himself by saying, “Well, weren’t you glad when you found out your baby grandson was still alive?” He honestly didn’t even think about it. Total idiot moment. Personally, I wanted to strangle him. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2011, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-inappropriate-to-communicate-by-text-or-email/566785/39 "2011-01-10T02:02:18Z")
A goof I used to work for fired one of my co-workers by sending him an email. To his work email address. Which email account was frozen by IT as soon as the firing notice made the rounds from goof to HR to IT. So he shows up for work the next day none the wiser that his phone hadn’t been syncing down his email since about 3pm yesterday when his employment ended. It was not pretty. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2011, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-inappropriate-to-communicate-by-text-or-email/566785/40 "2011-01-10T02:34:58Z")
> [@Asimovian](#): > > Not quite to the OP, but many years ago, my mom and I came home to a rather unexpected voicemail message from my grandmother about my father (my parents had been divorced for several years when this happened): > > “Hello?..Hello?..Kathy?..Hello?..well, the police called. James passed away…hello?..OK, bye.” > > Sadness at the time aside, my mom and I have laughed about that in subsequent years. A very odd way to learn about someone’s death. I’m glad you can see the humor in that. Because that cracked me the hell up. (Sorry for you’re loss.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-inappropriate-to-communicate-by-text-or-email/566785.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-inappropriate-to-communicate-by-text-or-email/566785.md?page=3)