Quote of the Day (Joe Queenan, on the ‘Idiotic Gibberish’ in Email Scams)

“Previously, scams from crooks trying to pass themselves off as marketers representing Amazon or Apple or Chase Bank were sleek and professional-looking, with no obvious typos or grammatical errors. Somebody out there in the darkest corners of the evilsphere at least used some form of spell checker before clicking the ‘Send’ button. The messages they crafted looked legitimate, making it easy for people to fall for them. As many did. But now all I get is idiotic gibberish from people who can't spell.”— Humor columnist Joe Queenan, “Moving Targets: You Should REELy ReaD Thiss Column!” The Wall Street Journal, Mar. 19-20, 2022

Quote of the Day (Tim Harford, on That Obnoxious ‘Redundant Reminder Email’)

“The redundant reminder email: Surely I do not need an email from an airline or train company or theatrical impresario reminding me to bring my ticket? Surely I do not need an email from an airline or train company or theatrical impresario reminding me to bring my ticket? A helpful reminder to the hopelessly inept, they are a colossal annoyance to everyone else. Given that the Covid rules might have changed, or the departure time rearranged, it’s risky to delete them without careful scrutiny. But when that careful scrutiny merely reveals that I will not be allowed on the plane if I don’t bring my passport, then you’re wasting the time of your 99.9 per cent least incompetent customers.”— “Underground Economist” columnist Tim Harford, “The Seven Types of Email You Should Never, Ever Send,” The Financial Times, Jan. 7-8, 2023

Quote of the Day (David Brooks, on the 4 Types of E-mail Lists)

“If Aristotle were alive, he would note that there are four types of E-mail lists. There are lists that remind you that the sender went to a better college than you did. There are lists that remind you that he has a better job than you do. There are those that remind you that he has more sex than you do. And finally, there are those that remind you that he is better than you in every respect: spiritually, professionally, and socially.”—Conservative columnist and TV political commentator David Brooks, “Shouts and Murmurs: The A-List E-List,” The New Yorker, reprinted in Fierce Pajamas: An Anthology of Humor Writing from “The New Yorker,” edited by Henry Finder (2001)

Quote of the Day (Nora Ephron, on Phone vs. Email)

“The phone requires you to converse, to say things like hello and good-bye, to pretend to some semblance of interest in the person on the other end of the line. Worst of all, the phone occasionally forces you to make actual plans with the people you talk to—to suggest lunch or dinner—even if you have no desire whatsoever to see them.

“No danger of that with email. E-mail is a whole new way of being friends with people: intimate but not, chatty but not, communicative but not; in short, friends but not.” --Nora Ephron, “The Six Stages of Email,” The New York Times, July 1, 2007