What is a letter?It seems that any schoolchild can answer this question, even of the lower grades, not to mention us adults. At first glance, it seems that there is nothing special in this subject - a piece of letters, that's all. Well, perhaps, these paper messages can still be twisted into a tube, either neatly folded in half or four times.
This article aims to reveal the very meaning of the word "letter." In addition, the reader will receive a lot of interesting information about this already, of course, a history of communication.
General definition of the concept
Let's try to figure out what a letter is.According to data obtained from the modern explanatory dictionary, it can be concluded that this is a kind of message, which, as a rule, is expressed in a very compact form and is intended for the exchange of a certain kind of information between institutions, companies or ordinary people.
The content can be completely different, ranging from business to personal correspondence.
Milestones of history
Now write a letter - no problem.All that is needed, if there is such a need, is to pick up a piece of paper (checked, in a ruler, or just white) and a pen. Write - I do not want. But how did people manage when they didn't have paper?
Scientists managed to find out that the very first text messages of the planet were written (or carved) on some similar medium, for example, on parchment, on a piece of bark or on a clay shard.
Interesting and unique clay tablets werefound during excavations by archaeologists in Nineveh, which was considered the capital of the ancient and once very powerful Assyrian state. As you know, a powerful fire to the ground destroyed this city, but the letters of the time, thanks to the material on which they were made, managed to survive to this day. Some of them can be viewed in major museums in London and New York.
Demand today
Modern writing is, as before, a message. However, in most cases it is created and / or sent not electronically, but electronically. Usually using email.
The content has also changed. In contrast to the letters of twenty or even thirty years ago, it is now possible to attach various kinds of multimedia elements to it. For example, clips or pictures.
What is a letter? Interesting Facts
Given the long history of this type of communication, it would be surprising if unusual facts had not been preserved about it and have not reached our days.
According to research, the longest letterit is safe to consider some parchment, whose length is 10 meters, and its width exceeds 7 m. In the far 16th century, the Persian shah, whose name, unfortunately, was not preserved, sent this message to Turkey to the local sultan Suleiman the Magnificent. Those who want to look at this message with their own eyes are advised to go to the Ankara National Museum.
If there is the largest letter, thenprobably the smallest. Here it was just discovered not so long ago, in 1983 in Europe, namely in the special Stockholm Post Museum. This baby managed to go through all the stages of postal processing without exception. It even has a stamp extinguished by the 1883 stamp. The size of this message is 23 × 36 mm. Incredible!
And finally, what is a letter according to those whomakes changes to the famous Guinness Book of Records? Experts set as a goal to find the most expensive mail message of the planet. After some effort, they still managed to achieve a certain result. The real value was the message of Abraham Lincoln to General John Alexander McClernand. It was written back in 1863, and was sold in 1991. By the way, at the auction held in New York, they managed to bail out an astronomical sum of $ 748,000. By the way, not everyone knows that another astronomical sum of 3.4 million dollars was raised for another letter from the American president. This message went to a private collection.
