Cold Casual Emails

Is it me or have emails become more cold, lacking any friendly or casual vibe? Whenever I pointed that out to the writer, she'd give the reason that her English was not good or that she didn't know about such stuff.

I'm puzzled. Is it really something you 'get'? To me, writing emails to friends is like talking. You insert smileys to replace the human smile, include interjection words and friendly greetings, like you would in any real life interaction - is this truly something hard to do? Such quick self-deprecation annoys me. My mother, who didn't have schooling due to poverty, always, ALWAYS said, "That's because I'm stupid. I don't know how to read. I'm not educated," etc. So, to my utter surprise, to find such excuse given so blithely by my friends, who are university graduates, bothers me a little ... okay, a lot. Instead of attempting to learn to better themselves, they would rather remain in ignorance, claiming that they do not know and prefer not to pursue learning about it. Some claim that it's 'not them' or "That's how I am". Does learning and adapting to something new remove your character? No! It's just like learning a new language!

I don't know ... I scratch my head at this.