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Re: progress in e-mail, such as AOL [message #352945] Wed, 20 September 2017 08:59 Go to next message
jmfbahciv is currently offline  jmfbahciv
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Registered: March 2012
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Dave Garland wrote:
> On 9/19/2017 8:17 AM, jmfbahciv wrote:
>> Dave Garland wrote:
>>> On 9/18/2017 9:30 PM, Gene Wirchenko wrote:
>>>> On Sun, 17 Sep 2017 20:22:01 -0700 (PDT), hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com wrote:
>>>
>>>> > . Staff does their own typing via word processing or spreadsheets,
>>>> > including writing of user instructions and documentation. That used
>>>> > to be typed by the secretary.
>>>>
>>>> Who was a fast typist.
>>>
>>> Who could type without making illiterate (or at least, unproofread)
>>> typos or making other misteaks (sic)?
>>>
>> A large part of secretarial training was formatting.
>>
>
> Some places, I guess.
>
> Places I worked, it was taking scribbles that were illegible to the
> layman and translating them into coherent English that was correctly
> spelled (and keep recipients thinking the boss was literate), creating
> documents out of originals that were cut-up xeroxes from various
> sources taped together with penned changes, answering the phone, and
> signing the boss' name to (form) letters. A good secretary could sign
> the boss's name better than he could.

There were definite formatting styles for letters and documents. If
you used the wrong one, e.g., the less formal style than formal,
you could piss someone off and lose business.

/BAH
Re: progress in e-mail, such as AOL [message #352955 is a reply to message #352945] Wed, 20 September 2017 09:52 Go to previous message
Ahem A Rivet's Shot is currently offline  Ahem A Rivet's Shot
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Senior Member
On 20 Sep 2017 12:59:42 GMT
jmfbahciv <See.above@aol.com> wrote:

> There were definite formatting styles for letters and documents. If
> you used the wrong one, e.g., the less formal style than formal,
> you could piss someone off and lose business.

There were both formatting and phrasing rules, I've seen an old set
of instructions for writing business letters correctly and I know I'd only
get it right by accident without following written instructions.Thankfully
nobody else knows the rules these days.

--
Steve O'Hara-Smith | Directable Mirror Arrays
C:>WIN | A better way to focus the sun
The computer obeys and wins. | licences available see
You lose and Bill collects. | http://www.sohara.org/
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