Saturday 2 January 2021

Serious stuff

 Yes, ten  in the morning and really serious-looking snow falling outside the window - large flakes and settling quickly.   It was forecast for down the North-East side of the country as the wind veered round to the North East.  Well, none of us were planning to go anywhere so it doesn't really matter I suppose and it is quite pretty and it is Winter.   I have taken a photograph out of   the window but it is hard to see snow falling.   Post has just dropped through my letter box - it is on these sort of days that one feels sorry for outdoor workers, and especially my Post Lady, herself having had a hip replacement, trudging from door to door with what is most likely these days to be advertising material as bit by bit our 'proper' post comes by e mail and our Postal Service is eroded.   How long before it disappears for ever?    How many of us remember two deliveries a day - even one delivery on a Sunday?   And how will researchers in the future fare when looking back - there will be few letters and e mails will have been read and deleted.

And I wonder how spelling and handwriting will fare - texting brings an end to long words and the need to write things down recedes. and has it been like this with every generation or have things suddenly speeded up?  And can we for a second consider new words which have entered our language?   I ask this because Carruthers yesterday suggested that my heading for yesterday's post was what he called 'Clickbait'.   I questioned what this meant with him on our almost-nightly phone call and  he said most people  would know.   I have only asked two people and neither knew but it is a good word to describe my title.   Did you know?   How do these words enter our language and why do some stick while others fade into obscurity.   And as we age do we try to keep up with all these changes or do we let them all pass us by?   I suggest it has to be the former even if we are tempted for it to be the latter -

As I sit here the snow has continued to fall and there is no break in the grey sky.   Winter is here with a vengeance today.   Stay warm.


30 comments:

Debbie said...

My postman is still wearing shorts.Respect!

Margie from Toronto said...

"Clickbait" is a headline (or similar) stating something - usually provocative in some way - to get readers to click on that blog post or newspaper story or vlog. What you find is usually something not nearly as interesting as you thought it would be - not necessarily in a deceptive way but just slightly misleading. Your headline yesterday gave some the impression that you might be ending your blogging so people were a bit worried when they read it.

Mail delivery has actually increased here during the pandemic - especially delivering packages. We get deliveries on even a Saturday and Sunday now!

We had some fresh snow last night and I'm looking out my kitchen window watching the full moon as I sip my tea. I'm supposed to be meeting a friend for a walk this morning so I'm hoping the sidewalks have been cleared already.

Enjoy your day.

JayCee said...

Saturday postal deliveries here were stopped some time ago. We seem to only receive bills and magazines these days. I bet your garden looks pretty in the snow.

Salty Pumpkin Studio said...

Clickbait, I think, took off because it sounds similar to chick bait. Headlines/titles meant to grab an audience, nowadays are quite creative. The urban dictionary is depressing, finding good words turned into smut. Yet, it is a good reference source for making sure a title or name doesn't mean something unplesant.

Wishing you a cozy warm, and happy interesting day

thelma said...

True headings for blogs are difficult, most times I keep to the date and day, but then you can never find anything from past blogs. No snow here yet, thought it was starting in the East as well but a couple of degrees warmer which is good. Just got the wood burner going, only to read in the Times, the fumes given off are great polluters!

Derek Faulkner said...

The news today is suggesting that we could have another "Beast from the East" during the next fortnight.
You do have to wonder about the heroic posties in their shorts in the winter - perhaps riddled with arthritis in older age? As an ex-Claims and Insurance Manager I do wonder how the Post Office would stand should an employee claim that arthritis was caused by the Post Office allowing them to wear shorts in cold weather and not protective trousers.

Jean said...

Save your stamps!!
Very little of our post has real stamps on it these days so collectors (like me) are finding that nice examples of modern stamps are hard to get. Any undamaged used stamp has a value and there are charities who will send an envelope FOC for sending them your stamps, such as the RNIB.
It's important to cut the stamps off an envelope with a border of paper around the edge. Tearing them off caused damage to the perforation and renders even the most collectable stamp worthless.
I had not heard the term "clickbait" before, but then most things like that pass me by. I can see why it has come about.

Sue said...

Yes, I know all about 'clickbait' ... our friend John Gray is the master of it :-)

I remember having handwriting lessons at school where we had to write out our letters over and over and then incorporated them in sentences using proper handwriting. The concentration and quiet in the classroom used to be lovely.

I really hate 'text speak' .. so I will never be 'L8 4 my T', but I may on occasion be late for my tea. My sons laugh that I punctuate my text messages and Facebook comments, but without a comma things can so easily be misread. And I love a good paragraph that properly separates subjects up for discussion.

Finicky me ... yes I am.

Minigranny said...

Yes I've heard of 'clickbait ' which can even be used to lure people to click on an article and result in Malware getting into computers. I do like to see snow so am a bit disappointed that we haven't had any! Take care and keep warm. Sheila x

Sue in Suffolk said...

Hope you don't get too much snow up there in the frozen North! although as you say no one is going far.
I saw someone shopping today in tee-shirt and shorts - brrrrrr

jinxxxygirl said...

'Click bait' to me is something that is meant to grab your attention to make you click on it for the benefit of the person that put it out there... Personally i just think you were trying to be clever and you succeeded :) We will be lucky to get above freezing today.. gray and wintry.. a little misty and cold.. A good day to stay inside and put warm clothes on.. Although i must venture out for a walk today as i did not walk yesterday..I have warm fleece to put on and gloves and hat.. I really do need a scarf....Take care Pat. Hugs! deb

Joan (Devon) said...

I have never heard of 'clickbait', but now (thanks to comments here) I know all about it, not that it will affect me much.

I'm afraid I'm a stickler for the old ways of letter writing. My eldest grand-daughter knows letters should only be written in blue for personal and black for official letters and forms and not colours of the rainbow. I also use a ' to denote a missing part of a word eg 'phone. Some people call me a dinosaur, but I don't care.

Ellen D. said...

We had a bit of snow but my son has already gotten the driveway clear. Thank goodness for him!
In the US, the post office has become very busy - with deliveries as mentioned above - but it also played a big part in our Presidential election. More states allowed mail-in voting due to COVID and huge numbers voted that way (many of them for Biden). So thank goodness for the US Postal Service who have done a great job for us!
Stay safe and warm!

Librarian said...

Thelma, do you mean you can‘t find anything on older posts when you do not use the key word in the headline? You know there is a search bar in the top left corner on every blog page here on blogger, it works on your own blog as well as on others.

No snow here yet except for the higher slopes of the Blackforest, just visible from the village. I am not keen on snow when travelling, as I will be in less than 2 hours.
We get mail once a day from Monday to Saturday, but there has been a suggestion from the postal service to stop delivering personal letters on Mondays, meaning only official letters such as invoices, tax notices and similar would be delivered. I am not sure now how and if the decision has been made yet, but it won‘t make much difference to me - I hardly get any letters on Mondays anyway, and I have a sticker on my mailbox that I do not want leaflets and adverts.

Sue said...

Snow has just started to fall in Lincolnshire. I have been wishing for it all over the Christmas period but I hope it doesn't settle overnight now because Kat is driving back to Brize Norton tomorrow.

Jennyff said...

I don’t know what half these new words mean either and I don’t care. I remember a lesson we had at school almost 60 years ago about not using so called modern words that have a limited life. The theme was the enduring vocabulary of writers like Shakespeare which is still relevant today, I doubt clickbait and woke and what have you will mean anything in 50 years, probably less.

Tom Stephenson said...

I have lost the muscle memory for handwriting now.

Northriding said...

Plenty of snow here too. I went to the park for a walk earlier and there was quite an array of snow people.

I hate texting and emailing and do it reluctantly, but I still write letters and receive them with pleasure. We still have deliveries Monday to Saturday, but I remember when we had two deliveries a day and on the Sunday before Christmas there would be a delivery then.

thelma said...

In answer to Meike. Yes, thank you, I do use the search option but it was only recently that I was able to find the widget that put all my blogs on the front page so to speak.

Rachel Phillips said...

Language is always changing, new words entering and some words leaving. It has always been this way. I suppose bloggingis a bit like letter writing where we share news. I still send postcards but rarely if ever handwrite a letter, the email has taken its place and it takes me too long to write a long letter by hand. I can type much quicker. No snow here.

Traveller said...

Toms comment about loosing the muscle memory for handwriting reminded me of something. I used to write a lot, would fill pages of notebooks. I stopped this when circumstances changed but went back to it after a few years. It was very difficult and just wasn’t flowing. It finally dawned on my that I used to write with a fountain pen and was now using a ballpoint. I went back to a fountain pen and the muscle memory was back....clearly the resistance had been wrong.

The Feminine Energy said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Bonnie said...

There are indeed many changes in words and phrases. My adult children and grandchildren help me to keep up as well as reading and even TV. I've discovered there are some things that can cause problems if we don't know the new terms. When I get a haircut I get a "bob" style cut or what at one time was called an "undercut" (cut so the hair turns under). The last time I asked my stylist to give me an undercut she wisely realized that I had no knowledge of a modern day undercut. She explained to me that was when they shave the sides of your head and leave it long on top! I knew that style but had no idea what it was called. So yes, I guess there are times when we really need to know the new terms!

Karen said...

My grandson graduation high school with honors, without the capability to write with cursive. He has NO SIGNATURE. I asked him to sign his name and got a squiggle with no apparent connection to his name. Not even two squiggles.

Heather said...

I am sad for our language and some modern terms are a foreign language to me. Handwriting and spelling, and grammar for that matter, are no longer deemed important. I daresay future generations will find their own ways of communication. I don't text but do use email and find it quite useful at times.
Snow showers only down here, then they turned to rain. If it freezes tonight the pavements will be very dangerous tomorrow.
Keep safe and warm.

Red said...

I thought click bait was fair game. We want people to read our post.

Susan said...

Language continues to evolve. I was surprised to hear schools are not teaching the parts of speech nor diagramming sentences. Also, with Covid and required online learning, student skills are falling. Due to this, in my community, some parents are choosing private school education (with smaller class size and in classroom learning) above public school education. Another shift is underway.

Cro Magnon said...

When my two older children were at school here, they were taught to write correctly, in a form of French copperplate. Their handwriting was beautiful (as was all the other children's). When they came to go to school in England they reverted to scrawl because they didn't want to be 'different'. Such is life.

Debby said...

Freezing rain here. A good day to stay inside. I have Christmas put away for the year. Have a good day, and stay warm!


Val said...

I remember postal deliveries on Christmas Day, in the UK. How times change!