Thursday, February 2, 2012

Don't Re: Me

Don’t RE: Me

I innocently open my inbox.  The subject line of the first new e-mail reads Re: Re: Re: Re: The second one also seems to stutter: FW: FW: FW:  The next sound you hear is me screaming.  Why can’t people write email subject lines that give poor inundated recipients a clue as to what the subject is? Or may be? Or could be? 

I know, I know.  We writers are a little pedantic and twisted, probably from too much time sequestered and staring at an evil, mocking, blank screen, secretly programmed in C++, or B negative, or something ideated (!) by some hacker techie so that the mere sight of it instantly causes writer’s block.

Still, c’mon people, be reasonable.  If you want me to have a prayer of going back and finding your email sometime in the next century, do not, I repeat, do not use this cryptic description in the subject line: “Re: interesting…”

Lots of things are interesting (the fact that earthworms are hermaphrodites, for example), but you’d have to agree that dual-sexed worms have nothing to do with me finding your email and responding to an assignment in, like, 14.2 seconds.  Could you please just make the subject line revealing/meaningful?  Pretty please?  With stevia on it?      
Re: Thank you.