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The Man Who Made You Put Away Your Pen

npr.org — When was the last time you actually set pen to paper and mailed off a personal letter to someone? It's probably been awhile — and the man to blame is Ray Tomlinson.

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  • diggnutty, on 11/16/2009, -1/+74The man who made your grandma send off her life savings to Nigeria.
  • GodAImighty, on 11/16/2009, -2/+44what the hell is a pen, is that like a stylus?
  • sartorious, on 11/16/2009, -2/+22"The first e-mail is completely forgettable," he says. "And, therefore, forgotten."

    Translation: pr0n
  • blackinthmiddle, on 11/16/2009, -0/+16It's used to badly scribble your signature when buying stuff.
  • xpinchx, on 11/16/2009, -0/+12Please God, let this meme die.
  • blackinthmiddle, on 11/16/2009, -1/+11The man directly responsible for that Viagra email sitting in your spam folder.
  • vsujohn2, on 11/16/2009, -0/+9I do not eat green eggs and ham.
  • jardine64, on 11/16/2009, -0/+9Yeah. Enough is enough.
    YouTube comments will keep doing it, but we, as digg users should move on :)
  • dtele, on 11/16/2009, -3/+11No one MADE ME put my pen away... or stop writing letters.
    There are too many assumptions in these headlines and introductions.



  • blackinthmiddle, on 11/16/2009, -0/+7His comment is also redundant.
  • InactiveUser, on 11/16/2009, -1/+8His name is Ray Tomlinson.
  • rolf, on 11/16/2009, -0/+7And just 6 years later, in 1977:
    http://yfrog.com/0qhoneywellemailad19770j
  • xpinchx, on 11/16/2009, -0/+6Redundant, your comment is.
  • borez, on 11/16/2009, -2/+7As an upside down left handed writer who has the problem of nobody apart from another upside down left handed writer being able to understand a word I write.... I applaud this development.
  • xpinchx, on 11/16/2009, -0/+4This is a nice supplement to a digg from yesterday about the history of the internet.

    http://digg.com/tech_news/The_History_of_the_Inter ...
  • TheOther1, on 11/16/2009, -1/+5and Kanye along with it...
  • wipis, on 11/16/2009, -0/+4Letter writing is a dead art and for that matter so is email. It's rare that I get any sort of online message or email that has proper grammar, punctuation or spelling. Much less in a decent font or size. Don't get me started on content:
    Name (no comma or hyphen)
    How are you? Im good. The weather is cold and rainy. Visiting X this weekend. What are you up to? Bye.

    Unsigned,

    I'm no master but at least I try.
  • Stoyanov, on 11/16/2009, -1/+4Dear Sir,

    I am writing this e-mail to you on behalf of The Great Prince Namibu of Nigeria...
  • sethc, on 11/16/2009, -0/+3The pen is mightier.
  • fritzmusic, on 11/16/2009, -1/+4Wow. I haven't thought about it much but it's true. I haven't had to write anything in a long time except my signature on checks. Then I got a debit card. My only use for writing then was signing for computer parts when they came in UPS and they have a stylus on a signature for that so that's the closest to writing I've been the last 2 years. I make all grocery notes on my phone and that was the last use for writing I really had. I write so little these days that I bought a fancy Parker pen for the occasion. Everything else can go into a notepad on my computer/phone. I haven't wasted paper in years!
  • Elranzer, on 11/16/2009, -0/+3Planned memes are not real memes. I never accepted it as a meme when they started shoving it down my throat that it was a meme.

    Seriously, when MTV.com tells me "Kayne West is now a meme" I say "NO, he is not."
  • betona, on 11/16/2009, -0/+2Betona's tip of the day: You want to make an impression nowadays, write a letter or thank you note on paper and send that.

    After an interview, it helps you stand out because everybody already gets a boatload of e-mail. Actual mail is so unusual that the recipient is certain to read it while he will scan and delete your e-mail in less than 5 seconds. After someone's given you a gift, sending a thank you note shows character. And to someone special (your mom, SO, whoever), it shows the depth that you care.
  • PeanutCheeseBar, on 11/16/2009, -6/+8Buried as inaccurate; we all know that Al Gore invented the Internet.
  • Hood15, on 11/16/2009, -0/+2Hence the article you're commenting on.
  • inactive, on 11/16/2009, -2/+4The man who made you put away your pen - and pencil etc.
  • Atario, on 11/17/2009, -0/+2It's the same kind of thing as any other first message in a medium:

    Hey, check it out! This is an email! An email is...
  • oneofmanysteves, on 11/16/2009, -0/+2Is this an email? How do I send?
  • Zoshchenko, on 11/16/2009, -0/+2Where were the lawyers? He should have copyrighted the "@" sign. Imagine the royalties!
  • groo68, on 11/16/2009, -0/+2It's npr's style. its some sort of neo folk type of blaming someone for progress or change, in my opinion.
  • RungeKutta, on 11/16/2009, -0/+2Haha yes! But where's the funky shirt and track pants?
  • centran, on 11/16/2009, -0/+1The most evident utensil, is none other than a pencil
  • ic4rus, on 11/16/2009, -1/+2Umm, I penned a missive to my girlfriend just last month. Forget it being a lost art, it's just more personal to send a letter. It shows effort and thought went into writing what was on the page. Plus you can add little doodles and drawings and other silliness to the page.

    My other friends, she sends me mix CDs and letters all the time when we could just send an email. Bah, bunch of wasters can't write longhand any more.
  • wipis, on 11/17/2009, -0/+1Oxford? I went to a state school. It shows, doesn't it?
  • Myztry, on 11/17/2009, -0/+1LOL. That comment was even more pointless then this one :)
  • jjustin01, on 11/16/2009, -0/+1a-meme!
  • Mark1982, on 11/16/2009, -0/+1Guy looks more like RICKY Tomlinson.
  • bruceree88, on 11/16/2009, -0/+1Writing is a lost art nowadays.
  • bigbadgoat, on 11/16/2009, -1/+2shut up! You do not. What is this internet you speak of?
  • johnnyblazepw, on 11/16/2009, -0/+1I hope this virus-laden attachment finds you well.
  • quantumstatejim, on 11/21/2009, -0/+1Maybe once you get past education that is ok but at University, studying Maths particularly I would never cope without a pen. However efficient you get at LaTeX you are never going to be able to keep up with handwritten equations. Then even worse you get diagrams, plus in lectures currently I am finding that there is a lot of new notation which would slow you down even more.
  • proverbs17, on 11/16/2009, -1/+2Al Gore should have gotten a Nobel Prize for this!
  • gernblansted, on 11/17/2009, -0/+1"Wait, I'm not dead yet."
  • compacho, on 11/16/2009, -0/+1This man made me put my pencil away:

    http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i176/heskis1/Int ...
  • cdndigger, on 11/16/2009, -0/+1Easy
  • groo68, on 11/16/2009, -0/+1You forgot your oxford comma before "or."
  • dloader, on 11/16/2009, -0/+0I still got a pen beside me and get to use it sometimes.
  • facelogic, on 11/17/2009, -1/+1umm...whatever
  • andyroo316, on 11/16/2009, -1/+1Is lynching still illegal?
  • AiR1890, on 11/16/2009, -2/+1Intermat had make me very much smarter, I say words more better know, some words, I say no good thought. See my grammmer good, good, more good, thank you internat
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