An email chain.

This blog has become a scrapbook of sorts for Ash and I. A (not-so) recent email chain had a bunch of us laughing like crazy, and we figured this would be the perfect place to memorialize it so we can always return to it when we need a good laugh. So go ahead. Amuse yourselves at our expense. :-)

Email #1:

From: Ashutosh
To: Neha; Ani; Priya ; Vinod
Sent: Mon, November 29, 2010 2:39:20 PM
Subject: Blogs

Hello family,

I am writing to tell you about an interesting and educational blog that I have been intermittently reading for the past 2 weeks. It's not actually a blog, rather it is in the opinion section of the NY Times. It's called Freakonomics...titled after the famous book. The website was started by the authors of the book and many experts contribute their findings on it. I really like it and thought I would share a good thing with my family members. Reading this blog may not increase your IQ, but I believe it will definitely make you a smarter person over time. This is purely for your edification. Simply google freakonomics blog and you will find it easily. I found the article "Should we hope congestion gets worse?" interesting. I also learned why the US currency has "In God We Trust" printed on it.

Best,

Ashutosh

Email #2:

From: Neha
To: Ashutosh; Ani; Priya; Vinod
Sent: Mon, November 29, 2010 4:47:24 PM
Subject: Re: Blogs

Hello Ashutosh,

Thank you for the information you forwarded us regarding the Freakonomics blog. It is obvious that it has made a strong impact, as words like "edification" seem completely out of place in a casual family email. Perhaps you should recommend that they publish an article where they prescribe appropriate language for various audiences, as I'm quite certain an email sent to your brother, brother-in-law, sister-in-law and wife would seem more personal if using language such as:

Yo,
Check out the Freaknomics blog--it's AWESOME.

Love,
Ash

On a side note, including the link to the stated blog would also be helpful, as it would provide one-click access to the stated reading material. Perhaps this should be kept in mind for future correspondence.

Best,
Neha

Email #3:

From: Ashutosh
To: Neha; Ani; Priya; Vinod
Sent: Mon, November 29, 2010 5:33:51 PM
Subject: RE: Blogs

Yo Neha,

F*** YOU!!

Love,
Ash

Email #4:

From: Neha
To: Ashutosh; Ani; Priya; Vinod
Sent: Mon, November 29, 2010 5:41:14 PM
Subject: Re: Blogs

At least you're headed in the right direction. Perhaps we'll have a conversation about what I meant by "personal". When we start with appropriate language, we'll start with the basics. :-)

Love you too,
Neha :-)

Email #5:

From: Priya
To: Neha; Ashutosh; Ani; Vinod
Sent: Mon, November 29, 2010 6:32:07 PM
Subject: Re: Blogs

I must say that I was very appreciative of Ash's email, not only did it teach me a new word (edification), it also piqued my interest to visit the blog immediately. As technological advances continue to take over our world, people have become very informal in their means of communication. Speaking from my years in the classroom, I have witnessed how email has caused students to consider a greeting such as "yo" acceptable. It also causes students to think fragments are actually complete sentences. For example, "Check out the Freaknomics blog - it's AWESOME" - is for one, missing a subject. Additionally, the use of capital letters suggests excitement, however then you have chosen to end the "sentence" with a period. This seems to be quite a mismatch. Instead, I would suggest writing, "I think you should check out the Freaknomics blog, because it's awesome!"

Additionally, while including the link for "one-click access" may have increased efficiency, it causes people to rely on instant retrieval of knowledge, rather than using their brain a bit. Remember the world we grew up in when we had to go to a library and actually look up material in a book (obviously Neha doesn't)? Furthermore, the fact that I received numerous emails from Neha during work hours which discussed Christmas gifts, leads me to believe that efficiency is not really a priority in her life.

Therefore, I would encourage you, Ash, to continue to write emails in this same fashion and as for Neha, perhaps you can open your mind a bit and appreciate different genres of writing, genres that don't include salutations like "yo." All that being said, I would greatly appreciate it if you two could continue to include us on your exchange of emails - as it is HILARIOUS! (notice the exclamation point, Neha).

See you soon,
Priya

Email #6:

From: Neha
To: Priya; Ashutosh; Ani; Vinod
Sent: Mon, November 29, 2010 7:17:36 PM
Subject: Re: Blogs

Mrs. Voleti,

Thank you so much for your response. As one who believes you should practice what you preach, please see below:

From: Priya
To: Neha
Sent: Sun, November 28, 2010 10:50:44 PM
Subject: Tassimo Discs

Yo - I'm placing an order tomorrow for some Tassimo T-discs..do you need any?

http://www.coffeeforless.com/sub_category.asp?id=612


I'd specifically like to bring to your attention the greeting "Yo," the easily clickable link (hence no use of brain power for the reader), and the incorrect sentence structure.

I have no further comments at this time.

Sincerely,
Neha