I chose 6 months, but only due to extraordinary circumstances.
Last December, I wrote a letter on behalf of my HOA (I’m a board member) regarding a dispute with an owner who was demanding that we reimburse him for the cost of having his car towed and impounded for illegal parking. He had sent us a CERTIFIED LETTER threatening legal action if we did not pay, making a big deal over the fact that it was a CERTIFIED LETTER as if that somehow made him right. So we responded in kind, sending him a politely-worded letter that essentially told him to go screw himself. (We are yet to hear of any attempted legal action, which is no surprise.)
Aside from that, I cannot remember the last time I mailed anything that was neither a package or payment for a bill. The last I can remember for sure was when I was in college 20 years ago.
I just finished writing one last night, to a friend that got married & moved to Florida.
Back before I had a computer, I had tons of penpals. There were these little handmade thingies called Friendship Books, that you signed, put your address in and listed some hobbies & interests if you wanted more panpals. You would stick them in a letter to another penpal, they would sign it and then pass it along. If someone thought you sounded interesting, you might get a surprise letter from a stranger. I miss penpaling & Friendship Books (Or FBs as they were known)
I may have written a letter or two when I was a kid, I’m not sure. Outside of that my letter writing has been limited to writing a few fake letters when they taught us how to write them in school. It just never occurred to me really; why send a letter when you can use the phone?
The last one for which I’m sure, excluding business letter which were always typed, was to my then-friend now-wife in August 1989. She still has it.
I’ve written several others which were not mailed, but hand delivered.
I last wrote a letter about 5 years ago to my niece. I specifically wrote a letter rather than an e-mail, because my intent was to have it read by her mother, my sister-in law. An e-mail wouldn’t have been left on the counter or desk, where I knew SIL would see it and read it.
SIL had had an affair; everyone in the family was coming down on her in a nasty way. I wanted SIL to know that I understood what had happened and why, and that I was not going to judge her or threaten to cut off contact or any of the other bullshit my family was pulling. So the letter was full of news and witty advice ostensibly directed toward my niece, but was really referring to **the situation **and my feelings about it. I knew SIL would read it and immediately know what I was on about. Only a letter would do.
I just left a yellow sticky note on my supervisor’s desk.
But a real personal letter that’s not business related? I’m not sure. Several years ago, I used a pen to write a letter to my aunt after her lover died.
I enjoy writing letters. I usually try and dick around with people who have to write back. Like heads of state and politicians. I had a rather memorable exchange with the Queen of England. Sadly, she won’t make me the Earl of Stittsville.
The last one I can remember was in 1992. A “love” letter to my girlfriend at the time. We only lasted a few more months. I wonder if it’s still out there, somewhere (we haven’t kept in touch since)?
Before that, I rarely wrote letters out of anything short of impulsion or a reply to a friend, since we all had phones.
I can foresee myself writing out a hand-written personal letter if something serious or formal called for it. I don’t think it’s an obsolete correspondence, but certainly far more marginalized to novelty, sincerity, intimacy or formality; now that the number of casual ways to communicate long-distance are myriad and/or instant.
About two weeks ago. My daughter was invited to a birthday party by a school friend, and they neglected to put RSVP details on it. I’d lost their phone number and didn’t have an email, but since we had once been to their house … into the post it went (actually, we hand-delivered it).
Apart from that … dunno, years ago. Email is much better. I was always a terrible letter writer.
I wrote a few letters to my past lover last year, and one this year. Almost each one with a lump in my throat. I have not always been sure how they were received. I do know they were words from deep in my heart.
I put ‘within the last month’, but before that I don’t think I had written one (as in handwritten, on paper, using a pen) for maybe five years, or more. All the people I might communicate in written form with, have emails. Except the guy I wrote to last month who doesn’t have a computer or even a mobile phone.
Nitpick: It’s “stationery.” Sorry. Pet peeve of mine.
I wrote a letter just yesterday to a friend in upstate New York. I usually write a couple of letters a week. I more often type (word-process, actually) than handwrite, since it’s easier for the recipient to read and I can get more words on a page that way - and also not have to write the same thing over and over if I’m sending essentially the same letter to different people (yes, I customize the salutation, and details that would be of interest to just him or her). I write a letter to my parents just about every week, too.
Despite my heavy use of email, I like both writing and receiving letters. I’m old-fashioned that way.
End of March. My sister was having a birthday and she doesn’t have e-mail, her financial situation being even more dire than mine. So I wrote her a letter, as it was the only thing I could afford to do for her.
Wow, I was just thinking about this. I’ve been writing letters to a friend who’s in boot camp. I don’t think I’ve written one in decades. I’m shocked that the army doesn’t let recruits use email or update their Facebook pages
I don’t remember ever writing a handwritten letter either, unless you count stuff done as a class assignment. The last letter I wrote in that capacity was a letter to myself at graduation that would be mailed out five years later.
I’ve typed everything I could since I got a printer for my birthday at age 11. People my age marvel at my handwriting, while everyone a generation or above thinks it looks like I’m in grade school, which is funny, since my handwriting was better back then.
Handwritten personal letter? Late 1980s.
Word-processed business letter? Yesterday.
Personal e-mail? 10 minutes ago.
Dope post? Now.
Is there any difference in the essential point of each activity: one human taking time to set out his/her thoughts for another to read? No.
As noted by other posters near the top, insisting on a pen is silly. Ballpoints sound primitive, but were invented not too far from 1900. The reservoir fountain pen barely 40 years before that. Neither are exactly ancient technology. Aristotle would have been baffled by either.
Folks have been daubing something contrasty kinda like ink in the shape of words onto something flat kinda like paper for a very long time. What I do today with my word processor app and laser printer is to stick something contrasty onto paper forming the shapes of words.
Letter writing today is far *less *dead than it was in 1970. The OP’s question is interesting and sensible. The guy he heard on the radio is a fool.
