5 ms·

I'm not an American and I did write letters in my country of origin as a kid, but one thing that annoys me about US-style envelopes to this day is that they hav

I'm not an American and I did write letters in my country of origin as a kid, but one thing that annoys me about US-style envelopes to this day is that they have no lines for address - you're just expected to line text up on your own correctly. If you're used to writing on lined paper because that's the standard in your country (including envelopes!), it can be frustrating. The envelopes I'm used to look like this: https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9A%D0%BE%D0%BD%D0%B2%D0%B5%D1%80%D1%82#/media/%D0%A4%D0%B0%D0%B9%D0%BB:%D0%93%D0%BB%D1%83%D1%85%D0%B0%D1%80%D1%8C_%D0%BD%D0%B0_%D0%BF%D0%BE%D1%87%D1%82%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%BE%D0%BC_%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%BD%D0%B2%D0%B5%D1%80%D1%82%D0%B5_%D0%A1%D0%A1%D0%A1%D0%A0.png https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9A%D0%BE%D0%BD%D0%B2%D0%B5...

cormorant 2y ago
Do they still say Министерство связи СССР ?
- int_19h 2y ago
  They did for a few years after USSR was gone, as they were still going through old supplies. AFAIK modern Russian ones just say "Почта России", but the overall design is retained, including pre-labelled lines for various parts of address.
rascul 2y ago
> one thing that annoys me about US-style envelopes to this day is that they have no lines for address I'm an American and I've used envelopes that have lines to write addresses on. I used to see them every now and then. In fact, I have about half a box sitting in my filing cabinet next to me that I probably haven't used for years. Many envelopes don't have the lines, though.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
thesuitonym 2y ago
We have envelopes like that, too, but they're not all that common.
globular-toast 2y ago
In the UK at school in the 90s we were taught how to write a letter including addressing and stamping the envelope. It's quite strange to see it done "wrong" like in the OP. You're supposed to have the first line of the address centred vertically, leaving the top half for stamps. At least they got the stamps on the correct (right) side, though. I've seen a lot worse.
- seabass-labrax 2y ago
  I wouldn't say it's that different from how the Royal Mail currently recommend one write the address: https://help.royalmail.com/personal/s/article/How-to-address-your-mail-clear-addressing-tips https://help.royalmail.com/personal/s/article/How-to-address... My father writes the address staggered; that is, each subsequent line being indented a centimetre or so relative to the previous line. Were you taught to stagger the address at your school in the 90s?
  - globular-toast 2y ago
    Yes, I was taught to do it staggered, but I think this was dying out at the time and I believe that by the time I wrote any letters of my own I didn't do the staggering. My theory is it's because of the prevalence of printed labels. I haven't seen it for a long time now. Now that I'm reminiscing a bit, it was also fairly common at the time for people to order a batch of sender labels that they could affix to the envelope. My grandparents had particularly distinctive golden metallic labels which meant you could instantly tell who it was from (if you didn't already recognise the handwriting).
Suppafly 2y ago
>you're just expected to line text up on your own correctly. It only has to be lined up well enough to be read by a human, they don't reject them just because it's sloppy or not lined up correctly.
- int_19h 2y ago
  Yes, I know. It still offends my aesthetic sensibilities. ~

cormorant 2y ago

Do they still say Министерство связи СССР ?

int_19h 2y ago
They did for a few years after USSR was gone, as they were still going through old supplies. AFAIK modern Russian ones just say "Почта России", but the overall design is retained, including pre-labelled lines for various parts of address.

rascul 2y ago

> one thing that annoys me about US-style envelopes to this day is that they have no lines for address I'm an American and I've used envelopes that have lines to write addresses on. I used to see them every now and then. In fact, I have about half a box sitting in my filing cabinet next to me that I probably haven't used for years. Many envelopes don't have the lines, though.

deleted 2y ago
[deleted]

thesuitonym 2y ago

We have envelopes like that, too, but they're not all that common.

globular-toast 2y ago

In the UK at school in the 90s we were taught how to write a letter including addressing and stamping the envelope. It's quite strange to see it done "wrong" like in the OP. You're supposed to have the first line of the address centred vertically, leaving the top half for stamps. At least they got the stamps on the correct (right) side, though. I've seen a lot worse.

seabass-labrax 2y ago
I wouldn't say it's that different from how the Royal Mail currently recommend one write the address: https://help.royalmail.com/personal/s/article/How-to-address-your-mail-clear-addressing-tips https://help.royalmail.com/personal/s/article/How-to-address... My father writes the address staggered; that is, each subsequent line being indented a centimetre or so relative to the previous line. Were you taught to stagger the address at your school in the 90s?
- globular-toast 2y ago
  Yes, I was taught to do it staggered, but I think this was dying out at the time and I believe that by the time I wrote any letters of my own I didn't do the staggering. My theory is it's because of the prevalence of printed labels. I haven't seen it for a long time now. Now that I'm reminiscing a bit, it was also fairly common at the time for people to order a batch of sender labels that they could affix to the envelope. My grandparents had particularly distinctive golden metallic labels which meant you could instantly tell who it was from (if you didn't already recognise the handwriting).

Suppafly 2y ago

>you're just expected to line text up on your own correctly. It only has to be lined up well enough to be read by a human, they don't reject them just because it's sloppy or not lined up correctly.

int_19h 2y ago
Yes, I know. It still offends my aesthetic sensibilities. ~