That must have been awkward for you, Alex, having to break a young man's heart like that. I'm sure he'll be devastated to hear that you don't like-like him the way he thought you might.
Also: what an atrocious display of penmanship. And what's with the diamond in the background? Is that some sort of reference to Legend of Zelda?
What a strange sentence! Maybe I'm missing some inside joke, but reading this as a non-participant, I can't help but imagining some other guy next to her telling her how adorable she is as she is writing. Surely, no one is so evil as to intentionally give this impression.
"[...] that although I think you're the sweetest nicest thing ever [...]" Is this too obvious? Is someone going to look up the word 'duh' in the dictionary and stick it in my face? I'm talking about, of course, replacing the word 'although' in that sentence with 'because,' because I think the sentence will have a bit more truth that way. I assume that this letter was written by a relatively young woman, and "sweetest nicest thing ever" simply doesn't strike me as what she 'like likes.' I'm suggesting of course that young women in general (though by no means all young women) don't often go for sweetest nicest guys. This has been simply my observation, and I have a feeling that a few people around here would back me up on that.
I really enjoyed reading this as well. My own failures with women was usually at the point before they've even noticed me, or the failure to bring about the possibility of like-like into the mix. Therefore, I'm unfamiliar with these types of letters but can certainly relate to what Ryan must have felt reading it. The style of this letter seems extremely contrived. It's like she went to a bad "how to dump your quasi-boyfriend gently without so much as a phone-call" writing clinic and took meticulous notes.
Ha ha. Thank you for the thoughtful analysis Mr.Xu. As to understand the peculiarities of this letter, it’s important to know that I was sitting right next to the women as it was written (and had mentioned before-hand how her nervous state was adorable). It would have been funny, and more Deep Madder worthy if you were right; however it wasn't the case. Your switching of “although” and “because” made me laugh; I’ve never imagined it as that. Good find! It’s sort of neat having a letter like this (although I wouldn’t wish for another). I put in a tin with other memorable artifacts.
As one could probably guess, I very much like this.
ReplyDeleteThat must have been awkward for you, Alex, having to break a young man's heart like that. I'm sure he'll be devastated to hear that you don't like-like him the way he thought you might.
ReplyDeleteAlso: what an atrocious display of penmanship. And what's with the diamond in the background? Is that some sort of reference to Legend of Zelda?
Also: I just downloaded all of your radio shows and intend to listen to them on the train ride to my work tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteIs this letter recent?
ReplyDeleteMy reading of this, apologies to Ryan if I'm re-opening wounds here.
ReplyDelete"I'm sorry I'm really nervous (and apparently adorable)."
What a strange sentence! Maybe I'm missing some inside joke, but reading this as a non-participant, I can't help but imagining some other guy next to her telling her how adorable she is as she is writing. Surely, no one is so evil as to intentionally give this impression.
"[...] that although I think you're the sweetest nicest thing ever [...]" Is this too obvious? Is someone going to look up the word 'duh' in the dictionary and stick it in my face? I'm talking about, of course, replacing the word 'although' in that sentence with 'because,' because I think the sentence will have a bit more truth that way. I assume that this letter was written by a relatively young woman, and "sweetest nicest thing ever" simply doesn't strike me as what she 'like likes.' I'm suggesting of course that young women in general (though by no means all young women) don't often go for sweetest nicest guys. This has been simply my observation, and I have a feeling that a few people around here would back me up on that.
I really enjoyed reading this as well. My own failures with women was usually at the point before they've even noticed me, or the failure to bring about the possibility of like-like into the mix. Therefore, I'm unfamiliar with these types of letters but can certainly relate to what Ryan must have felt reading it. The style of this letter seems extremely contrived. It's like she went to a bad "how to dump your quasi-boyfriend gently without so much as a phone-call" writing clinic and took meticulous notes.
Was that excessively harsh on the young woman?
Ha ha. Thank you for the thoughtful analysis Mr.Xu. As to understand the peculiarities of this letter, it’s important to know that I was sitting right next to the women as it was written (and had mentioned before-hand how her nervous state was adorable). It would have been funny, and more Deep Madder worthy if you were right; however it wasn't the case.
ReplyDeleteYour switching of “although” and “because” made me laugh; I’ve never imagined it as that. Good find!
It’s sort of neat having a letter like this (although I wouldn’t wish for another). I put in a tin with other memorable artifacts.
I assert that young women generally do not make it their lives' works to hurt young men's feelings while enjoying having their own feelings hurt.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure young women don't. I was a bit unfair.
ReplyDelete