Rex Reed: ‘Tarnation’

Sunday’s column is about David Grossberg, an Ontario man who sent letters off to a bunch of older famous names to get their opinions on the decline of handwritten correspondence in favor of e-mail.

Snippets from their replies are in the column. Here are a few others I liked:

* Rex Reed: “What significance in a sophisticated society does a ‘smiley face’ have, and what in tarnation does LOL mean?”

* P.J. O’Rourke: “Rudeness and sloth in the guise of ‘informality’ exert their perennial appeal … When words had to be carved in stone, we got the Ten Commandments. With the quill came William Shakespeare. The fountain pen produced Henry James. The typewriter, Jack Kerouac. And all we have to show for the computer is the blog.”

Hey!

* Lee Iacocca: “Writing a personal letter to someone has always been important to me. I have the original handwritten letter I wrote to my father the day I was made president of Ford Motor Company.”

* Hugh Downs: “Etiquette is after all, kindness, and it can be manifest in the terse realm of e-messages.”

* Jack Kemp: “While I do email and messaging on my Blackberry, there’s nothing like a written letter to convey sincerity, honesty and the integrity of meaning.”

* Andy Rooney, who wrote a column about Grossberg’s letter, also sent him a typed reply. Referring to Grossberg’s insurance office address in downtown Ontario, the letter’s last line grouses: “‘211 West ‘B’ St’ is one of the most characterless addresses I ever wrote and if I lived there I’d move.”

Until the downtown redevelopment project forced him to move his office, Grossberg had an address on Euclid Avenue, a name Rooney would probably like. Grossberg got a kick out of Rooney’s column and letter and plans to frame them and hang them prominently in his office.

Look for my column in the paper or online on Sunday.

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