Subject Line? I Don't Need No Stinkin' Subject Line!

After years of e-mailing and thousands of e-mails, I suddenly find myself berated for my lack of subject lines. A few months ago, my friend K.C. gave me the semi-snarky comment that my messages always stood out from the others on the list by the big empty space where a subject line should go. I was fine with that comment, but then in the course of a single week, two more people reprimanded me simply because I hadn't posted a heading. One whined that he couldn't find the file I had sent him because there was no tag. This was a legitimate complaint since we're working together and I'm sending him a lot of files of late (not that this was one of them, this related to a separate project that I just wanted his opinion on). Of course it's easier to find a message if there is an appropriate label. But I'm lazy. Really, really lazy. I mean rushed. I was rushed when sent those messages. I didn't have time to write, um, one or two extra words. Because that would have taken me, like, another second. And I have big important things to do. Like what? you ask. Well, too big and important to detail here, I assure you.

The point here is that while they may be right in their critique of my lack of subject headings, my question is this -- when did we acquire the internet police?! E-mails are the most informal mode of communication that I can think of, and nothing has contributed more to the decline of the English language. Don't believe me? then u shld thnk 2. LOL :)

(I can't tell you how painful that last sentence was to write.)

I'm constantly witnessing the decline and fall of the written language as we regress into some form of hieroglyphic codes and abbreviations just to save five seconds of typing. At least when I compose my e-mails, they usually consist of capital letters, punctuation, and complete sentences. All I'm saying is, forgive my lack of subject lines.

Of course, I am a dying breed. No doubt, as technology advances, writing will soon be done away with altogether as we simply send mini-voice mails, soon to be followed by mini-videos instead of e-mails. I'm guessing that process should begin sometime around 3 p.m. next Tuesday. Two weeks later, people might accidentally click on this blog and wonder what all those little "buggy-like" things are on the page. Don't try to explain they're letters and words. Simply point your cell phone and hit the INTERPRET button. It will "translate" the page in the "voice-tone" of your choice. Hopefully, it'll be Homer Simpson.