Tag: mail

Best of “The Intrepid Book Society”

Dear Readers,

After renewing its website, “Words in Ideas” is preparing its 3rd year of fresh new articles, starting in October. While you wait, you can read (or re-read) the best articles under the category “The Intrepid Book Society”. This “Society” is a fictional book club, analysing a book per month according to a keyword or a key place.

 

 
During the first year, articles were written as reviews. Here are the 5 best:

 

 
In the 2nd year, fictional members discussed the plots between themselves. Here are the 5 best:

 

 
This 3rd year, “Words in Ideas” will test your knowledge (or, hopefully, making you curious in reading) the book of the month.

 
If you wish to comment or send suggestions, please fill in the form at the end of each website page.

Thank you!
Words in Ideas
https://wordsinideas.com/
 

Keyword: MAIL | Post vs Mail vs Email

Email (or better yet, electronic mail) has been with us for several decades now and one can say that today it is essential for both professional and personal purposes. It is useful to digitally send and receive messages and files to/from other people, and much quicker too. The “e”, from “electronic”, refers to the fact that these messages are sent using electronic means. The term “mail” was not chosen by chance, although it may have been an unconscious act. Although with different meanings and different language origins, “mail” in this context came from the French word malle, meaning “bag”. As the letters to be delivered were carried inside bags, soon the term was expanded to the letters themselves.

“Post” has basically the same meaning as “mail”, but “mail” is used in American English while “post” is chiefly used in British English. This term also comes from French: poste, which in this context means “station for post horses”. If nowadays cars have to go to petrol stations to refuel, in the past horses would have to rest and get fed at regular intervals. These “posts” were located in strategic positions to make sure the horses would have places to “refuel” or to be replaced. As the horse riders would carry the “letter bags”, these posts became known as “post offices”.

Therefore, in the old days, the letters were transported inside bags on horses. The person who rode the horse with the bags full of letters, or just messages written on a piece of paper (especially in war time, which was rather often), was called a “courier”. This word came from an older version of the French word courir, which means “to run”. Obviously, the messages had to reach their destination as fast as possible, thus, the horse riders would have to “run” from “post” to “post”. Nowadays “courier” is connected to diplomacy, drug traffic or contraband, espionage, and tourism.

The couriers would ride the horses at all speed to make the delivery as soon as possible. In Europe, at least, they used to carry a horn to warn the post offices that mail was arriving. That is why many postal services in different countries have horns in their logos. Sometimes, the couriers would deliver the messages or letter bag to another courier who was ready to go and just waiting for the first one to arrive. The horse would stop just long enough for the exchange to proceed and the second rider would depart at full speed as soon as he had the message or the letter bag with him. This has inspired the relay races in sport. The English idiom “don’t shoot the messenger” has its roots in couriers. In truth, it is not clear if messengers would be killed when delivering bad news, but the receivers would surely be infuriated.

However, the postal system as we know it was not invented in Europe, but in Persia. Royal roads were built especially for couriers, covering the entire empire. Tests were made to know the distance a horse could run before it collapsed and then post offices were built accordingly. At the time, only official mail was delivered, thus, there was no personal correspondence.

At the beginning, messages were pieces of papers that were relayed from hand to hand. Later, the postal system expanded to include personal correspondence. Messengers on horseback were replaced by mail coaches and postal service was paid by the receivers. As most of them weren’t willing to pay, a new solution had to be found. Hence, the stamps, which were pre-paid by the senders and allowed for the letters to be delivered in mailboxes. In emails, mailboxes are called inboxes (the incoming or arriving email). The courier, in the meantime, turned into a postman or mailman or mail carrier.

The pieces of paper became “letters”, a name that came from the Latin litterera. It meant letters from the alphabet, the way someone would write, a message sent to someone, or literature. Nowadays, the letters have turned into emails as most people communicate digitally. This has led Denmark’s postal service to decide to stop delivering letters at all, with consequences. However, parcels may be booming. The orders people make online on shopping websites and apps are sent via post service, thus giving mail carriers extra hours at certain times of the year, like Christmas.

Times are changing and mail as we know it may change dramatically. Yet, postal service has undergone many changes over thousands of years, adapting to the needs of each epoch. In a globalized world, the exchange of correspondence between people in different parts of the world is more important than ever, and also faster than ever thanks to technology. No one is expecting to send a courier on horseback to deliver a message between France and Australia… but thanks to technology a message can travel that distance in seconds (by its own!). On the other hand, some packages cannot be sent by email. Of course, today, instead of horses, we have vans, trains, boats, and aeroplanes.

 

Keyword: MAIL | “The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society” by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

Ms Clara Smartest began the session summarizing the story of the book: “The author tells the story through the letters that are being exchanged between the main character, Juliet Ashton, and the other characters. Juliet is a writer and, naturally, she loves books. She is on a book tour when she receives a letter from a man living in one of the islands of the English Channel. He is contacting her about a book that used to belong to her. Conversation gets going and Juliet learns about an intriguing book club created unexpectedly during the Second World War. The letters are exchanged shortly after the war has ended and emotions are still running high.”

“It is easy for us nowadays to look back at that time and criticize what people did, during and after the war. I mean, common people. They were living in uncertain times and in fear. No one had any idea when the war was going to be over and they wanted to survive. Some tried to have fun and live to the fullest, without being concerned about the consequences. After all, they could be dead the next day. Others did what they had to do to feed themselves or their loved ones, especially feeding children”, said Ms Johanna Practicewell.

“Very true. But there were also very bizarre episodes as well. I think the book aims to focus on the funny ones, instead on the horror people were living in. In this case, the author focused on how creative people had to be just to be able to live their lives. Hence, the way the book club was created and, especially, its name”, said Miss Amelia Matterfis.

“And how they tried to encourage people by making fun of the war, kind of, like Juliet was doing with her books”, added Miss Martha Lovefeelings.

“The novel also shows how ‘fun’ was hand in hand with tragedy and loss. The story of the child is an example”, said Ms Johanna Practicewell. “That happened a lot. Sometimes the children were the result of love, but sometimes were the result of rape. In both cases, women were labelled as the enemy whores.”

“On the other hand, there were caring communities, whose members would protect the other members when something bad would happen to them. It is the case in this story”, said Ms Abigail Vooght. “Although, I think this is very rosy… Reality probably was crueller.”

“I had no idea that Guernsey had been occupied by the Nazis”, said Mr Matthew Barnepy. “Actually, I didn’t even know that island existed. And it is even more astonishing the fact that it is situated not far from the French coast, but it is in fact British. Occupying it should have made sense as it was a strategic location.”

“My surprise was the way the story was written: through letters. I didn’t even know that you could write a book like that, but then again, why not, right?”, said Mr Jeremy Toughready and laughed.

“It was a very popular genre in Jane Austen’s time. Actually, Jane Austen herself wrote a book using that technique, but she didn’t like it very much, so she dropped it”, informed Mr Mark Mindhearting.

“Wow. I had no idea”, said Mr Jeremy Toughready and many others agreed with him.

“Now, we can perhaps wonder if at that time the mail was that efficient. Naturally, it was more important than it is today. These days, we communicate digitally and the post offices deal more with packages than with letters. However, the war had destroyed most of what societies provided to the population. The mail never stopped being delivered (and a word of appreciation to all those who have succeeded in this great achievement), but may have not been so regular and not so fast”, added Mr Mark Mindhearting.

“I’ve watched the film”, said Sophia Vooght. “It was really good. In the film we can actually see a little clearer the brutality, but also how people would find ways to enjoy themselves, together, as a community. And to support one another, facing that horror. I can’t imagine what must have been like to see the Nazi army marching through the streets all of the sudden.”

“The love story is also interesting, isn’t it? I mean, they started writing to each other and then they fell in love… As a writer, Juliet was in her element, and Dawsey, the shy book worm, also found a way to express himself”, said Miss Martha Lovefeelings. “Plus, there’s the kid who found adoptive parents.”

“A nice story with a happy ending”, noted Leo Weave.

“But all traumatised, one way or the other”, added Ms Johanna Practicewell.

“War is always an awful thing. Even the positive, isn’t really, because it’s tainted by horror”, said Mr John Booklish, wrapping up.

 

** YOUR WORDS AND IDEAS **

By Isabella Muir | On 06 June 2025 at 07:59
Thanks so much for the excellent summary of the novel. I haven’t read the book, but I have seen the film several times. The story shines an important light on how dreadful it must have been for the people of Guernsey to suffer Nazi occupation for five long years. The story also highlights the threat of starvation that the people suffered, a threat that was only relieved when a Red Cross ship arrived with food supplies – but not until December 1944./p>

By Words in Ideas | On 06 June 2025 at 18:10
Thank you for pointing that out. Actually, that is related to the name of the book club. The film is really good and, although the book provides more details, it is very faithful to the book.