Pondhopping again – punctuation in business correspondence

[Professor Redwine]

In the "Business English" classes I teach, the focus is always on British English. I have heard rumours, however, to the effect that punctuation at the start of correspondence is approached differently in the US.

A normal British letter would begin with "Dear Ms Recipient," comma included, and the body of the first paragraph would begin with a capital letter.

What I remember hearing is that this varies in the US, dependent on the part of the country and also whether the letter is personal or official. There was something about using a colon instead of a comma to avoid offending, or not using any punctuation after the salutation, or ... Do you see my problem? I remember hearing something years ago and that's about all.

Is there a safe and friendly approach that I can take for an email response in the US? The company is trying to establish a collegial, almost matey relationship with customers via social media, which may or may not play a role in getting this right.

Thanks!
--
Redwine, Germany

[Cheryl]

In Canada, I was taught as a child to always use a comma after the
salutation for personal letters and a colon for business letters. I
don't know if that rule is still followed by anyone except me - and I
use a comma in informal business emails to co-workers I email regularly,
when I use any salutation at all. I think a colon would be a bit more
formal than a comma.

My darling Jack,

but

Dear Mr. Smith:

--
Cheryl

[Peter T. Daniels]

On Tuesday, August 13, 2013 6:28:25 AM UTC-4, Cheryl wrote:
> On 2013-08-13 6:51 AM, Professor Redwine wrote:
>
> > In the "Business English" classes I teach, the focus is always on British English. I have heard rumours, however, to the effect that punctuation at the start of correspondence is approached differently in the US.
>
> >
>
> > A normal British letter would begin with "Dear Ms Recipient," comma included, and the body of the first paragraph would begin with a capital letter.
>
> >
>
> > What I remember hearing is that this varies in the US, dependent on the part of the country and also whether the letter is personal or official. There was something about using a colon instead of a comma to avoid offending, or not using any punctuation after the salutation, or ... Do you see my problem? I remember hearing something years ago and that's about all.
>
> >
>
> > Is there a safe and friendly approach that I can take for an email response in the US? The company is trying to establish a collegial, almost matey relationship with customers via social media, which may or may not play a role in getting this right.
>

> In Canada, I was taught as a child to always use a comma after the
> salutation for personal letters and a colon for business letters. I
> don't know if that rule is still followed by anyone except me - and I
> use a comma in informal business emails to co-workers I email regularly,
> when I use any salutation at all. I think a colon would be a bit more
> formal than a comma.
>
>
>
> My darling Jack,
>
>
>
> but
>
>
>
> Dear Mr. Smith:

Oh, dear, what did Jack Smith do to you in between those two letters?

I believe that's exactly how it's still taught in grade-school manuals
(the ones that actually admit that letters are still occasionally sent).

[Mike Barnes]

Professor Redwine <jakob...@gmail.com>:

>A normal British letter would begin with "Dear Ms Recipient," comma included,

That comma looks decidedly old-fashioned to me.

>and the body of the first paragraph would begin with a capital letter.

Always. Except perhaps:

Dear Sir

iPhone accessories are selling well.

--
Mike Barnes
Cheshire, England

[Garrett Wollman]

In article <b6ug2a...@mid.individual.net>, Cheryl <cper...@mun.ca> wrote:

>In Canada, I was taught as a child to always use a comma after the
>salutation for personal letters and a colon for business letters.

Likewise for me as well (not in Canada).

-GAWollman

--
Garrett A. Wollman | What intellectual phenomenon can be older, or more oft
wol...@bimajority.org| repeated, than the story of a large research program
Opinions not shared by| that impaled itself upon a false central assumption
my employers. | accepted by all practitioners? - S.J. Gould, 1993

[Professor Redwine]

On Tuesday, 13 August 2013 14:45:46 UTC+2, Garrett Wollman wrote:

> Likewise for me as well (not in Canada).
>

What particular part of Notincanada, may I ask?

[Professor Redwine]

On Tuesday, 13 August 2013 14:34:04 UTC+2, Mike Barnes wrote:

> >A normal British letter would begin with "Dear Ms Recipient," comma included,
>
> That comma looks decidedly old-fashioned to me.
>

I've been trying to convince my keyboard to do the comma without a flourish, but it insists.

I know that block-style correspondence has been written without that comma for a generation now, but I still encounter it regularly in letters – even emails – from MOE. Perhaps I have a decidedly old-fashioned set of correspondents. Or perhaps they know how to win my heart. "When you have them by the short and curly punctuation marks, their hearts and wallets will follow."

....

> Always. Except perhaps:
>
> Dear Sir
>
> iPhone accessories are selling well.
>

Write ewe ah.

[Athel Cornish-Bowden]

On 2013-08-13 14:34:04 +0200, Mike Barnes <mikeba...@gmail.com> said:

> Professor Redwine <jakob...@gmail.com>:
>> A normal British letter would begin with "Dear Ms Recipient," comma included,
>
> That comma looks decidedly old-fashioned to me.

Really? What would you put? (a) nothing, (b) ! (as I've seen in letters
written by Germans, (c) :, (d) something else?

I always put a comma, but then I'm probably decidedly old-fashioned,
having entered my 8th decade.

>
>> and the body of the first paragraph would begin with a capital letter.
>
> Always. Except perhaps:
>
> Dear Sir
>
> iPhone accessories are selling well.


--

athel

[Garrett Wollman]

In article <8c19bc91-ea14-41f0...@googlegroups.com>,

The part that is south of the 45th parallel[1], except for where they
surveyed it wrong.

-GAWollman

[1] Formally known as "the International Boundary". Really. In those
parts, of course -- elsewhere it may be farther north or south.

[Tony Cooper]

A business letter in the US would normally have "Dear Ms Recipient:"
or "Dear Ms. Recipient:".

The colon is standard, but the period/full stop after "Ms" or "Mr" is
not. It would be included or dropped solely on the preference of the
writer.

--
Tony Cooper - Orlando FL

[Don Phillipson]

"Professor Redwine" <jakob...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:20f5f6e9-eabe-4c60...@googlegroups.com...

> In the "Business English" classes I teach, the focus is always on British
> English.
> I have heard rumours, however, to the effect that punctuation at the start
> of
> correspondence is approached differently in the US.

We need not be guided by rumour. We can still buy style books for business
correspondence, with sample letters, and comparison of current British and
American style books should settle this question.

(These style books date from the 19th century, thus may nowadays be
disapproved by some business teachers as "old-fashioned." In practice,
the main practical difference between the 19th and 21st centuries seems
to be the perfection of facsimile technology, which encourages the
multiplication
and transmission of original documents.)

--
Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)

[John Briggs]

Er, *analogue* facsimile transmission was perfected in the 19th century.
--
John Briggs

[Peter Young]

I've never seen that use of a colon on this side of the Pond.

Peter.

--
Peter Young, (BrE, RP), Consultant Anaesthetist, 1975-2004.
(US equivalent: Certified Anesthesiologist)
Cheltenham and Gloucester, UK. Now happily retired.
http://pnyoung.orpheusweb.co.uk

[Paul Wolff]

In message <6atOt.38580$VB2....@fx33.am4>, John Briggs
<john.b...@ntlworld.com> writes

Perfected? I've sent a fax from both sides now, from up and down, and
still somehow it's life's illusions I recall. I really don't know
perfecting machines (q.v.) at all.
--
Paul

[Mike L]

On Tue, 13 Aug 2013 05:14:30 -0700 (PDT), "Peter T. Daniels"
<gram...@verizon.net> wrote:

>On Tuesday, August 13, 2013 6:28:25 AM UTC-4, Cheryl wrote:

[...]

>>
>> In Canada, I was taught as a child to always use a comma after the
>> salutation for personal letters and a colon for business letters. I
>> don't know if that rule is still followed by anyone except me - and I
>> use a comma in informal business emails to co-workers I email regularly,
>> when I use any salutation at all. I think a colon would be a bit more
>> formal than a comma.
>>
>>
>>
>> My darling Jack,
>>
>>
>>
>> but
>>
>>
>>
>> Dear Mr. Smith:
>
>Oh, dear, what did Jack Smith do to you in between those two letters?

Perhaps something on the lines of:
http://briansibleysblog.blogspot.co.uk/2007/12/present-laughter.html
>
[...]
--
MIke.

[Paul Wolff]

In message <c0c1ac7a5...@pnyoung.ormail.co.uk>, Peter Young wrote:
>On 13 Aug 2013 Tony Cooper <tonyco...@gmail.com> wrote:
>> On Tue, 13 Aug 2013 02:21:24 -0700 (PDT), Professor Redwine
>>>

>>>What I remember hearing is that this varies in the US, dependent on
>>>the part of the country and also whether the letter is personal or
>>>official. There was something about using a colon instead of a comma
>>>to avoid offending, or not using any punctuation after the salutation,
>>>or ... Do you see my problem? I remember hearing something years ago
>>>and that's about all.
>>>
>>>Is there a safe and friendly approach that I can take for an email
>>>response in the US? The company is trying to establish a collegial,
>>>almost matey relationship with customers via social media, which may
>>>or may not play a role in getting this right.
>

>> A business letter in the US would normally have "Dear Ms Recipient:"
>> or "Dear Ms. Recipient:".
>
>> The colon is standard, but the period/full stop after "Ms" or "Mr" is
>> not. It would be included or dropped solely on the preference of the
>> writer.
>
>I've never seen that use of a colon on this side of the Pond.
>

With your experience in theatre, I'll bet you met a few semi-colons
though.
--
Paul

[John Briggs]

Roneo, Roneo, Wherefore Art Thou Roneo?
--
John Briggs

[Robert Bannister]

On 13/08/13 8:45 PM, Garrett Wollman wrote:
> In article <b6ug2a...@mid.individual.net>, Cheryl <cper...@mun.ca> wrote:
>
>> In Canada, I was taught as a child to always use a comma after the
>> salutation for personal letters and a colon for business letters.
>
> Likewise for me as well (not in Canada).

At school, I was taught only to use commas and didn't meet colons in
that position till I took up German.

I was also taught to omit any form of greeting in an email unless I
didn't have that particular person's address and was using the firm's
public email address. I am never quite sure what to make of someone who
wants to do business with me, who starts out by writing "Hi".
--
Robert Bannister

[Whiskers]

On 2013-08-13, Peter Young <pny...@ormail.co.uk> wrote:
> On 13 Aug 2013 Tony Cooper <tonyco...@gmail.com> wrote:
>> On Tue, 13 Aug 2013 02:21:24 -0700 (PDT), Professor Redwine
>> <jakob...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>>>In the "Business English" classes I teach, the focus is always on
>>>British English. I have heard rumours, however, to the effect that
>>>punctuation at the start of correspondence is approached differently
>>>in the US.
>>>
>>>A normal British letter would begin with "Dear Ms Recipient," comma
>>>included, and the body of the first paragraph would begin with a
>>>capital letter.

A business letter would have the subject below the salutation.
Underlined, if handwritten or typed, or 'bold' if modern office
equipment is used. Then the body of the message would start after a
single blank line.

>>>What I remember hearing is that this varies in the US, dependent on
>>>the part of the country and also whether the letter is personal or
>>>official. There was something about using a colon instead of a comma
>>>to avoid offending, or not using any punctuation after the
>>>salutation, or ... Do you see my problem? I remember hearing
>>>something years ago and that's about all.
>>>
>>>Is there a safe and friendly approach that I can take for an email
>>>response in the US?

Email messages aren't letters. If you can, look at business emails sent
to you by people you want to do business with to see what they think is
acceptable.

Usenet articles such as most of those in this group show what is
probably the best way of composing email messages - although many email
users (and even designers of email software) are confused by anything
other than top-posted replies with almost all earlier messages quoted
(or seeming to be quoted) below. And far too many people seem to think
that HTML or 'rich text formatting' is appropriate in emails (it isn't).

>>>The company is trying to establish a collegial,
>>>almost matey relationship with customers via social media, which may
>>>or may not play a role in getting this right.
>>>
>>>Thanks!

"Social media" seem to be much less formal in style than even the most
casual note. Emails should be more formal than that. Better to err on
the side of formality rather than risk offence with premature
familiarity.

>> A business letter in the US would normally have "Dear Ms Recipient:"
>> or "Dear Ms. Recipient:".
>
>> The colon is standard, but the period/full stop after "Ms" or "Mr" is
>> not. It would be included or dropped solely on the preference of the
>> writer.
>
> I've never seen that use of a colon on this side of the Pond.

Nor have I.

Companies concerned about "image" and "style" usually design a "house
style" of their own for all communication and documents, often extending
to such details as typeface, colours, margins, and line spacing, let
alone punctuation, spelling, use of technical terms or jargon, and so
on.

--
-- ^^^^^^^^^^
-- Whiskers
-- ~~~~~~~~~~

[Garrett Wollman]

In article <slrnl0lm8g.j...@ID-107770.user.individual.net>,

Whiskers <catwh...@operamail.com> wrote:

>Companies concerned about "image" and "style" usually design a "house
>style" of their own for all communication and documents, often extending
>to such details as typeface, colours, margins, and line spacing, let
>alone punctuation, spelling, use of technical terms or jargon, and so
>on.

When he was president of CBS, Dr. Frank Stanton hired a number of
top-rank graphic designers, such as Lou Dorfsman. As a part of the
graphic standards developed for CBS, official company letterhead had a
tiny black spot printed on it, indicating to the secretary/typist
where to line up the typewriter for the salutation (and consequently
where the left margin was as well). This lasted at least into the
Tisch era, possibly even later.

-GAWollman

[Peter T. Daniels]

Ah, yes. I've seen some version of that before.

Also, there's a choral work "The Twelve Days After Christmas" which
audiences love.

[Professor Redwine]

On Wednesday, 14 August 2013 03:10:40 UTC+2, Whiskers Catwheezel wrote:
>... And far too many people seem to think

> that HTML or 'rich text formatting' is appropriate in emails (it isn't).

I suspect that the people and organisations entrusted with defining internet standards would disagree on that as a blanket statement. Inappropriate is the sending of emails that have no plain-text equivalent included (this directly violates standards) or where the officially nominated equivalent is so incredibly non-equivalent as to render the message useless if read in plain text (this is an in-principle violation of the standard). The latter can, at a pinch, be avoided with a statement to the effect that "the contents of this email cannot be effectively presented in plain text, but are also available online at ..." followed by a web link.

Much use of rich text in emails is inappropriate for the same reasons that much use of rich text in printed material, word processor documents, PDF files, presentations, web pages, etc. is inappropriate: it distracts, thereby detracting from the effectiveness of the communication. I personally find corporate templates that make an email appear as if it is on company letterhead to be overkill, but this is a matter of taste.

[Professor Redwine]

On Tuesday, 13 August 2013 16:51:55 UTC+2, Garrett Wollman wrote:

> The part that is south of the 45th parallel[1]

...

There are two of them.

> [1] Formally known as "the International Boundary". Really. In those
>
> parts, of course -- elsewhere it may be farther north or south.

That makes it more specific.

[Peter T. Daniels]

On Tuesday, August 13, 2013 10:51:55 AM UTC-4, Garrett Wollman wrote:
> In article <8c19bc91-ea14-41f0...@googlegroups.com>,
> Professor Redwine <jakob...@gmail.com> wrote:
> >On Tuesday, 13 August 2013 14:45:46 UTC+2, Garrett Wollman wrote:
>
> >> Likewise for me as well (not in Canada).
>
> >What particular part of Notincanada, may I ask?
>
> The part that is south of the 45th parallel[1], except for where they
> surveyed it wrong.

That doesn't narrow it down very much -- it says you're not in Washington
or North Dakota, or a lot of Idaho, Montana, Minnesota,or Wisconsin, some
of Michigan, or part of New York or New England.

[Mike L]

I won't have it. But then I'm still only gradually coming round to
being called by my first name by total strangers.

--
Mike.

[Whiskers]

On 2013-08-14, Professor Redwine <jakob...@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Wednesday, 14 August 2013 03:10:40 UTC+2, Whiskers Catwheezel
> wrote:
>>... And far too many people seem to think that HTML or 'rich text
>>formatting' is appropriate in emails (it isn't).
>
> I suspect that the people and organisations entrusted with defining
> internet standards would disagree on that as a blanket statement.
> Inappropriate is the sending of emails that have no plain-text
> equivalent included (this directly violates standards) or where the
> officially nominated equivalent is so incredibly non-equivalent as to
> render the message useless if read in plain text (this is an
> in-principle violation of the standard). The latter can, at a pinch,
> be avoided with a statement to the effect that "the contents of this
> email cannot be effectively presented in plain text, but are also
> available online at ..." followed by a web link.

If you can't say what you need to say using plain text and binary
attachments, then email is the wrong medium entirely. (And don't attach
a word-processor file generated by whatever program you happen to be
using!)

> Much use of rich text in emails is inappropriate for the same reasons
> that much use of rich text in printed material, word processor
> documents, PDF files, presentations, web pages, etc. is inappropriate:
> it distracts, thereby detracting from the effectiveness of the
> communication. I personally find corporate templates that make an
> email appear as if it is on company letterhead to be overkill, but
> this is a matter of taste.

HTML and 'rich text' assume that the recipient has hardware and software
(including installed 'fonts') that match whatever the sender is using.
The HTML generated by email programs and word processors is pretty dire
even if it looks OK to the sender; few people have the skill or time to
code and debug efficient standard-compliant HTML that can be reliably
rendered by any rendering engine likely to be in use, just for one email
message. Even web sites often have to resort to offering different
versions for different web browsers, but at least they can "sniff" the
identity or abilities of the browser being used; that is impossible for
email.

The result is that the recipient may well see what looks like (and is)
garbled or daft HTML, unless their software is set to use the
'text/plain' version only, or to extract text from the HTML - in which
case the HTML is just junk, serving only to annoy the recipient and
waste bandwidth and time.

Then there are the privacy and security aspects; HTML emails can include
code that reports back to the sender every time the email is read, and
even which recipient's copy is being read, and from which internet
connection. Even worse is the possibility of "malware" being included
in the message or automatically downloaded. (Users in the know will set
their software to block such things even if the HTML is rendered, of
course).

[R H Draney]

Mike L filted:

>
>On Wed, 14 Aug 2013 09:17:47 +0800, Robert Bannister
><rob...@clubtelco.com> wrote:
>>
>>I was also taught to omit any form of greeting in an email unless I
>>didn't have that particular person's address and was using the firm's
>>public email address. I am never quite sure what to make of someone who
>>wants to do business with me, who starts out by writing "Hi".

I had a boss who started emails to her direct underlings with "Hi", but then she
also used "LOL" from time to time in those same emails, so take that into
account....

>I won't have it. But then I'm still only gradually coming round to
>being called by my first name by total strangers.

You bring that on yourself by the way your name appears in newsgroups...or would
you have us call you "Mr L"?...r


--
Me? Sarcastic?
Yeah, right.

[Garrett Wollman]

In article <slrnl0nv6h.5...@ID-107770.user.individual.net>,

Whiskers <catwh...@operamail.com> wrote:
>The result is that the recipient may well see what looks like (and is)
>garbled or daft HTML, unless their software is set to use the
>'text/plain' version only, or to extract text from the HTML - in which
>case the HTML is just junk, serving only to annoy the recipient and
>waste bandwidth and time.

This is becoming more and more difficult because Apple refuses to fix
its mail client to generate the correct MIME structure. When a
Mail.app user attaches a file to a message, the file is attached to
the HTML body-part and not to the message as a whole[1], so if the
recipient only looks at text/plain body parts, he won't see it at all.

-GAWollman

[1] The MIME structure should be:

multipart/related
/ \
multipart/alternative attachment(s)
/ \
text/plain text/html

or perhaps:
multipart/related
/ \
multipart/alternative attachment(s)
/ \
text/plain multipart/related
/ \
text/html graphical crap used only by HTML document

Mail.app generates the erroneous structure:

multipart/alternative
/ \
text/plain multipart/related
/ \
text/html attachment(s) mixed with graphical crap

which says that the first (text/plain) body part is semantically
equivalent to the entirety of the second (multipart/related) body
part, when in most cases it's not. Of course, it also gets forwarded
messages wrong (even when the original message was structured
correctly, or so it seems).

My mail client (VM) allows inline body parts to be freely
interspersed, so it can generate something like this:

multipart/mixed
/ | \
text/plain image/png text/plain ...

I have no idea if any other MUA displays this correctly.

[Whiskers]

I can't say I've ever noticed a problem with attachments from people
using iPads. AOL, however ...

> which says that the first (text/plain) body part is semantically
> equivalent to the entirety of the second (multipart/related) body
> part, when in most cases it's not. Of course, it also gets forwarded
> messages wrong (even when the original message was structured
> correctly, or so it seems).
>
> My mail client (VM) allows inline body parts to be freely
> interspersed, so it can generate something like this:
>
> multipart/mixed
> / | \
> text/plain image/png text/plain ...
>
> I have no idea if any other MUA displays this correctly.

Claws Mail seems to cope with that sort of thing - and at least one
person I correspond with uses "iPad Mail" which generates messages like
that (with no HTML part at all).

I think Claws Mail can also cope with multiparts within multiparts, but
I can't find any examples in my archives to verify that.

[Peter Moylan]

On 14/08/13 20:21, Professor Redwine wrote:
> On Tuesday, 13 August 2013 16:51:55 UTC+2, Garrett Wollman wrote:
>
>> The part that is south of the 45th parallel[1]
>
> ...
>
> There are two of them.

There isn't much that is south of the 45th parallel. The tip of South
America, a very small portion of New Zealand, all of Antarctica, and a
few small islands nobody has heard of. Otherwise, it's all water. Very
cold water.

--
Peter Moylan, Newcastle, NSW, Australia. http://www.pmoylan.org
For an e-mail address, see my web page.

[Professor Redwine]

On Thursday, 15 August 2013 12:22:03 UTC+2, Peter Moylan wrote:
> On 14/08/13 20:21, Professor Redwine wrote:
>
> > On Tuesday, 13 August 2013 16:51:55 UTC+2, Garrett Wollman wrote:
>
> >
>
> >> The part that is south of the 45th parallel[1]
>
> >
>
> > ...
>
> >
>
> > There are two of them.
>
>
>
> There isn't much that is south of the 45th parallel. The tip of South
>
> America, a very small portion of New Zealand, all of Antarctica, and a
>
> few small islands nobody has heard of. Otherwise, it's all water. Very
>
> cold water.

Precisely, Peter - especially in comparison to the water that you have. Last time I was in that part of NSW (admittedly, a bit further south than you) I had just flown in from England. -4° C at Gatwick, landed in Sydney at 7am and it was approaching 40° C. Swam in the Pacific near Gosford that evening, water temperature of 27° C. We never got that sort of thing down in Tas.


I did wonder, for a moment, if Garrett was writing from NZ. Of course, he could be.... the whole of NZ is south of the 45th parallel north!

[Mike L]

On 14 Aug 2013 15:47:33 -0700, R H Draney <dado...@spamcop.net>
wrote:

No, no, no! Fellow-Usenetians are not strangers. As for the
artefactive "L", only Lazza is intimate enough to be alowed to call me
"Mr L" - it goes with the head-dress, I believe.

--
Mike.

[R H Draney]

Mike L filted:

>
>On 14 Aug 2013 15:47:33 -0700, R H Draney <dado...@spamcop.net>
>wrote:
>
>>Mike L filted:
>>

>>>I won't have it. But then I'm still only gradually coming round to
>>>being called by my first name by total strangers.
>>
>>You bring that on yourself by the way your name appears in newsgroups...or would
>>you have us call you "Mr L"?...r
>
>No, no, no! Fellow-Usenetians are not strangers. As for the
>artefactive "L", only Lazza is intimate enough to be alowed to call me
>"Mr L" - it goes with the head-dress, I believe.

You can call me R if you wish:

http://youtu.be/qoYsfbq3vMc

....r

[Mac]

On 15 Aug 2013 15:22:48 -0700, R H Draney <dado...@spamcop.net>

wrote:

>Mike L filted:
>>
>>On 14 Aug 2013 15:47:33 -0700, R H Draney <dado...@spamcop.net>
>>wrote:
>>
>>>Mike L filted:
>>>
>>>>I won't have it. But then I'm still only gradually coming round to
>>>>being called by my first name by total strangers.
>>>
>>>You bring that on yourself by the way your name appears in newsgroups...or would
>>>you have us call you "Mr L"?...r
>>
>>No, no, no! Fellow-Usenetians are not strangers. As for the
>>artefactive "L", only Lazza is intimate enough to be alowed to call me
>>"Mr L" - it goes with the head-dress, I believe.

Were I a Mile L, the only thing I'd really worry about is the types
who wanna call you Rowtheboatashore. Can't trust them.

>
>You can call me R if you wish:
>
> http://youtu.be/qoYsfbq3vMc

Is this gonna be "talk like a pirate day?"

ANMcC

[Mike L]

On Thu, 15 Aug 2013 15:47:35 -0700, Mac <anmc...@alumdotwpi.edu>
wrote:

I, cap'n!

--
Mike.

[Skitt]

GEICO Gecko practicing his pronunciation.

http://youtu.be/GVMjGqs72Hk

--
Skitt (SF Bay Area)
http://home.comcast.net/~skitt99/main.html

[Robert Bannister]

That cries out for a GOTO command.

--
Robert Bannister

[LFS]

And, for the record, there is only one person in the world who is
allowed to call me <shudder> Lazza.

--
Laura (emulate St George for email)

[Peter Moylan]

On 15/08/13 21:10, Professor Redwine wrote:
> On Thursday, 15 August 2013 12:22:03 UTC+2, Peter Moylan wrote:
>> On 14/08/13 20:21, Professor Redwine wrote:
>>
>>> On Tuesday, 13 August 2013 16:51:55 UTC+2, Garrett Wollman
>>> wrote:
>>
>>>> The part that is south of the 45th parallel[1]
>>

>>> There are two of them.
>>
>> There isn't much that is south of the 45th parallel. The tip of
>> South America, a very small portion of New Zealand, all of
>> Antarctica, and a few small islands nobody has heard of. Otherwise,
>> it's all water. Very cold water.
>
> Precisely, Peter - especially in comparison to the water that you
> have. Last time I was in that part of NSW (admittedly, a bit further
> south than you) I had just flown in from England. -4� C at Gatwick,
> landed in Sydney at 7am and it was approaching 40� C. Swam in the
> Pacific near Gosford that evening, water temperature of 27� C. We
> never got that sort of thing down in Tas.

My very first experience of Europe was like that, only in the other
direction. Somehow I managed to pick the coldest Christmas they'd had
for years. I left Sydney at forty degrees, and arrived in Brussels at
minus thirty. If someone had tapped my testicles with a hammer they
would have shattered.

[Professor Redwine]

On Saturday, 17 August 2013 07:46:57 UTC+2, Peter Moylan wrote:

> If someone had tapped my testicles with a hammer they
>
> would have shattered.

I'm pleased you aren't using singular 'they' there, as that would have lead me to wonder if your testicles become aggressive when cold.