Gmail

Something interesting about gmail is that they refer to exchanges as Conversations. It looks like a file folder, which each persons comments responding the the prior persons comments.

I remember the first month I started my first job out of college, I spat out some emails in pretty loose fashion, not capitalizing, using slangish terms, being generally conversational. This guy at my work had taken a liking to me, this older guy, semi-intellectual, unclearly gay or straight despite having a wife, shot back to me a response making fun of how I was writing my emails. I shot back, of course, a theory espousing email as form of conversation versus a form of letter writing...expediency and so forth. He shot back that basic grammer and communication was vital to understanding each other. I shot back that he understood what I was saying. He shot back, not everyone would, that in business, one needs to be clear. He shot back something about the Price is Right. I shot back that he was being condescending. He shot back that I was a straw man. And so on.

I guess in business they tried to formalize email and make it a medium of official language, that of memos and newspapers and letters, but cleary it is not exclusively that. Email is this brilliant medium that doesn't fall neatly into one thing or the other, but to me, it a conversation that can become official if necessary. Email isot something that is official and when lazy folks get ahold of it can become conversational.

Maybe it's just because I love conversations and hate formality. But hey, I'm willing to fight that fight.