Wilde Mail
To: owilde@stillaroundheresomewhere.univ
Cc:
Bcc:
Subject: Other Subjects and Chocolate
Dear Oscar,
We still are on the subject of tea. It was the underlying subject of our correspondence. As you can see, for the sake of being tolerable I have changed it.
Will you come by this Sunday then and I shall serve hot chocolate and scones, if you like. We shall talk more about tragedies then? I sure prefer to converse with you in person. It will be easier to hear your sarcasm and witness your wit than to discern it through email. This emailing thing is dull.
I look forward to your presence in my lounge this Sunday at 3pm. Please find a way to ring that doorbell would you? I would like to know when you have arrived. I am still unaccustomed to guests that arrive noiselessly.
Raina
From: Oscar Wilde <owilde@stillaroundheresomewhere.univ>
Subject: Re:Re:Re:Tea?
Date: September 17, 2012 3:05:12 PM GMT+08:00
To: Raina Ng <r.ng@email.com>
Cc:
Dear girl,
You can never be overdressed or overeducated, did I not use to say?
Nobody calls me Fingal, how rude! So is calling me ancient.
This email thing does not allow anything to be discussed in depth. There is so much I have to respond to.
What do you mean by “do chocolate”?
No, I was not ignoring you, but with the email, it is easy to forget about subject matters. You jump from matter to matter so quickly. Must be a culture cultivated by emailing!
Ah yes, the room in the London hotel. It is not quite in the same fashion as it was in 1895 anymore is it? People like tragedies. Conversations thrive on tragedies. Which is why I am so talked about. My life was a tragedy, it was art.
I think you should change the subject on the email since we are no longer on the subject of tea. I also am getting quite intolerant about the Re:Re:Re’s. They make for bad style. What is worse than words that do not mean a thing are ugly words that do not mean a thing.
From: Raina Ng <r.ng@email.com> Subject: Re:Re:Tea? Date: September 17, 2012 3:05:12 PM GMT+07:30 To:Oscar Wilde <owilde@stillaroundheresomewhere.univ> Cc:
Dear Oscar,
I am so glad you got my email!
For an ancient person you have appalling email manners. But I never quite learnt email etiquette. No one teaches you these things. I suppose I can stop calling you Dear Oscar, but I feel it dishonourable to be calling you Oscar and too cold to be calling you Mr.Wilde. How about Fingal?
It is true what you said about emails making for horrid handwriting. I am not sure if people would actually remember how to write with a pen in the next few years.
You met Steve Jobs? Yes he was underdressed. He might think you to be overdressed.
You did not say a thing about the picture, shall I assume you were just ignoring me?
Chocolate, I can do chocolate.
Raina
From: Oscar Wilde <owilde@stillaroundheresomewhere.univ> Subject: Re:Tea? Date: September 17, 2012 3:05:12 PM GMT+07:10 To:Raina Ng <r.ng@email.com> Cc:
Ah Raina dear girl. Yes I have found my way around the email. I was wandering around and about to just drop in on you, but you were amidst some traffic and I would not be responsible for accidents. This email thing is great for quick correspondence but it is the making of horrid handwriting and impatience.
I learnt about the email from a funny looking man while wandering. He was quite excited about the fact that we can get emails. He was American. I could tell by the way he spoke. But dear me he had on some ghastly clothes, and even ghastlier shoes. Overly underdressed!
Oh the decline of style is the decline of humanity!
I would not even be caught wearing them as undergarments. Strange name, Jobs. He was quite irritated at the fact that I knew him not. In fact he deemed me ignorant. But his arrogance was a sign, I felt of a sort of genius. He took me to one of those sleek shops selling what I thought was fruit. I did not know that Apples have evolved into cold inedible things. You should tell me these things so I do not look foolish before the younger ones.
About tea, I can drop in on you anytime. I might have developed a taste for coffee but it is a bitter thing. I rather have a hot bowl of chocolate. A mexican lady served it to me once and I thought it to be just delightful.
From: Raina Ng <r.ng@email.com> Subject: Tea? Date: September 17, 2012 3:05:12 PM GMT+07:00 To: Oscar Wilde <owilde@stillaroundheresomewhere.univ> Cc:
Dear Oscar,
I am looking for a way I could invite you to tea again. Screaming and shouting my invitation like the way I did that time has distressed some neighbours. The lady next door has a bad case of nerves so I am hoping you have figured out the email.
I just read something from The Daily Mail. Apparently the picture below was the room you were in when you were arrested back in 1895.
I am sure it did not look like this back then. They really have found a way to capitalise on you! Oh dear! I am so sorry if I have brought you back to a time that was unpleasant. I bet you are reminded of it always so I will not ask you to tell me how it did look then.
Back to the invitation. Would you like to come for tea again on Sunday afternoon? I promise to find some scones or tea-cakes this time. Not sure how you feel about coffee instead.
I sure hope you do get this email.
Raina
(this post was done in response to the WordPress Daily Post Challenge: Mail it in)
Totally, inventive write I enjoyed every bit of this responsive e-mail
Thank you Leah.
sure, feel free to come by and read mine
I will do just that…
i loved the rhythm…or shall i say, cadence…of the classic exchanges. well done!
Thanks you!
What a good idea! I read the Daily Challenge, but my ‘original’ ideas were rubbish.
Good post x
I am sure they are not rubbish
Thank you Emma for dropping by and reading! I will pop by yours right now…
Hi Raina,
Love this blog! Thanks for sharing. http://www.segmation.wordpress.com
Thank you!
This is so vastly different than most posts on here. I absolutely enjoyed this. DISCLAIMER: I am stealing the quote at the top for Facebook and Twitter
Thanks Jeremy, am so glad you enjoyed it.
So creative and congrats on Freshly Pressed!
I am so stoked! Thanks
I am coming for tea, if you have me..
Why you are most welcome to drop in and meet Oscar
Thanks, would you be nice and make some coffee too?
Of course.
I will bring the cake then
Reblogged this on RumahBertanggaLumut.
great… what a conversation… did u totally come up with the whole conversation? or has it been actually inspired by a real one?
wonderful… full of eccentric humor, ofcourse mainly because of the huge generation gap.
it was inspired by one I have always had in my head
I am glad you enjoyed it…thanks for stopping by.
keep writing … i think i shud follow you in case you come up with another one in ur head … very creative btw
Thanks!
Wow, you are just my speed. Thanks for writing. ~Sonya
Thank you Sonya for reading, glad to entertain
I agree with the masses. This exchange of email is quite interesting… and enjoyable. Please forgive me for not knowing, for sure, exactly what was going on there. I am going to guess that you, Raina, wrote both parties’ communications. Is that correct? If so, then hats off to you. Well Done. I am working on a novel, and will be posting an excerpt from it on my blog shortly. I believe someone with a good imagination (i.e. you) would be able to appreciate it. If not appreciate, then at least offer an honest critique, if only a short one.
I will drop by and have a read, I am sure I would enjoy it. Thanks for stopping to read. And yes this email was very much fruit of imagination….
I think you just invented a way to make money as a writer: For a couple bucks, one could impersonate the famous writer of the buyer’s choice and send a little inspirational/birthday email. (A little easier than the guy at the farmer’s market who will type you a poem from any word you suggest for $10.) (I love this exchange, Raina.)
Reblogged this on misentopop.
Clever and witty, Raina! Very well done indeed.
Thank you, am glad you enjoyed it.
Very enjoyable post! Thank you.
Thanks you so much.
Well done, I really enjoyed this. This is one of the most creative responses I have seen to this particular writing challenge.
Thanks
I love this.
I wonder how he might have responded to the memories that photograph may trigger.
Am glad you enjoyed it…I attempted an earlier similar piece but have not gotten to the point where I dare to guess what his response may be.
clever device, there’s a book in this, you know…like Our Town, all those voices out of time.
that’s an idea…thanks Michael!
Great stories are really timeless, as are great writers, and we are losing literacy in our culture because of the very technology that enables us to write and communicate so easily. Look at all the greats around Wilde, for instance, Shaw Whistler Twain…
I agree, great writers – their work live through centuries!!
<—Jealous! I've always wanted to have a conversation with Oscar…nice touch. Congrats on the FP! I shall reblog this because "My own business always bores me to death; I prefer other people’s." – Oscar Wilde
Oscar is quite a character isn’t he? Thanks for dropping by and reblogging this
Reblogged this on Norman Cooper and commented:
Reblogging because, as Oscar Wilde said, “My own business always bores me to death; I prefer other people’s.”
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Huh, I just love your writing!
Aw shucks, thank you so much…
Reminds me of the days when we wrote letters to one another and waited endlessly for days, weeks, months for a response.
Well, how clever are you? Nice post!
I’m a big fan of e-mail but much less so of telephones. I agree with the last e-mail–I much prefer a face-to-face conversation. It is so much richer than either telephone or e-mail conversations.
Aw shucks, thanks Wanda. I prefer the email to the telephone to be honest, the phone is so awkward. But yes face to face is great for people we want to appreciate in greater depth isn’t it?
Very enjoyable read – congrats on the freshly pressed! I have been toying with the idea of an email interchange as a literary device – snippets of emails that are always sort of missing the boat – your post makes me think I should give the idea more attention.
I think that would be a great piece! Looking forward to reading it. Thanks for stopping by and reading and am glad you enjoyed it!
You made my day, Raina. While reading the first few parts of the thread, I was just beaming until…I got here:
“He took me to one of those sleek shops selling what I thought was fruit. I did not know that Apples have evolved into cold inedible things. You should tell me these things so I do not look foolish before the younger ones.”
It was there that I laughed my head off. My colleagues in the office gave me a squint look, upon breaking that bottled up guffaw, like they were telling me to get lost.
But really, the humor and creativity of this post are just exceptional. KUDOS!
I am so glad that this made your day
Thanks for stopping by and reading. And for the lovely comment.
The pleasure is mine, really.
It might had been a challenge, but quite interesting and fun, sometimes I do wonder what would be like to talk, chat, email those old writers, classic writers from the old days, even with those in Present time. Cheers!!!!
It was fun
Thanks for stopping by and reading!
My pleasure
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