snail mail

Snail mail is a derogatory retronym — named after the snail with its proverbially slow speed — used to refer to letters and missives carried by conventional postal delivery services. The phrase refers to the lag-time between dispatch of a letter and its receipt, versus the virtually instantaneous dispatch and delivery of its electronic equivalent, e-mail. It is also known, more neutrally, as paper mail, postal mail, or land mail.

Storing paper mail uses more physical space than storing e-mail. However, paper is a reliable storage medium and is not inherently dependent on any modern technologies. Documents printed on most common paper and left undisturbed for one hundred years will be easily readable. In contrast, most electronic storage degrades much faster. Worse, devices that can read a particular electronic storage medium may be difficult to find and use even a decade or two after their introduction.

There are efforts to renew interest in paper mail, such as the creation of mail art - physical art that is distributed and swapped around the world.

Snail mail is also a term used in reference to penpalling. Snail mail penpals are those penpals that communicate with one another through the postal system, rather than on the internet which is becoming the standard form of communication for penpals. There are penpal agencies that specialize in snail mail penpals including International Pen Friends and Global Penfriends.

Some online groups also use paper mail through regular gift or craft hot topics. In some countries services are available to print and deliver emails to those unable to receive email, such as the elderly. Mail A Letter is one such service in the USA; in the UK, Royal Mail offers a similar service.

See also

• Pasilalinic-sympathetic compass

External links

• The first documented appearance of the term "snail mail" on USENET dated 1982, on Google Groups

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