What is a letter? It seems that any student, even elementary school students, can answer this question, not to mention us adults. At first glance, it seems that there is nothing special in this subject - a piece of paper with letters, and that's it. Well, perhaps these paper messages can also be rolled into a tube or 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 method of communication, which is, of course, going down in history.
General definition of the concept
Let's try to define what a letter is. According to data obtained from a modern explanatory dictionary, we can conclude 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 certain types of information between institutions, companies or ordinary people.
Content can be completely different, from business topersonal correspondence.
History milestones
Now writing a letter is not a problem. All that is needed, if such a need arose, is to pick up a piece of paper (in a box, in a ruler or just white) and a pen. Write - I do not want. 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 cut) on some similar medium, for example, on parchment, on a piece of birch bark or on a clay shard.
Interesting and unique clay tablets were found 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 completely destroyed this city, but the letters of that 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 not created and/or sent in the usual way, but electronically. Usually via email.
The content has also changed. Unlike letters from 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 speciescommunication, it would be surprising if unusual facts about him were not preserved and survived to this day.
According to research, the longest letter can safely be considered a kind of parchment, the length of which is 10 meters and the width exceeds 7 meters. local Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent. Those who want to see this message with their own eyes are advised to go to the Ankara National Museum.
If there is a largest letter, then there probably is a smallest one. Here it was just discovered not so long ago, in 1983 in Europe, namely in a special museum of the Stockholm Post. This baby managed to go through all the stages of mail processing without exception. It even has a stamp canceled with an 1883 postmark. The size of such a message is 23 × 36 mm. Incredible!
And finally, what is the letter according to those who amend the famous "Guinness Book of Records"? Experts set a goal to find the most expensive postal message on the planet. After some effort, they still managed to achieve a certain result. Abraham Lincoln's message to General John Alexander McClernand turned out to be of real value. It was written in 1863, far from us, and it was sold in 1991. By the way, at the auction held in New York, they managed to earn an astronomical amount of $ 748,000 for it. By the way, not everyone knows that for another letter from the American president, more than an astronomical amount of 3.4 milliondollars. This message has gone to a private collection.
