February 07, 2008

To whom it may concern: Read this or you'll be sorry

The days keep slipping by again. Plus, I haven't had much to say. A few fleeting ideas that haven't coalesced into anything worthwhile. So I'll share a site that I found during my little hiatus and that I've made a habit of visiting.

Passive-Aggressive Notes is a collection of notes people see out in the world and send in, often with a backstory. As the site says, it's all about "painfully polite and hilariously hostile writings from shared spaces the world over." Whether they're truly passive-aggressive or not is open for debate, but some of the notes are just classic. The commentary for each note, or set of notes, by the person who runs the site is witty and insightful but usually it's the comments that make me laugh...or grimace...the most. The regular commenters are a smart but rather cutting group and can be merciless when someone makes a gaffe or poorly worded comment, to the point where I've personally never joined the fray because I don't need that kind of pressure, but it makes for good reading.

Leaving notes for people in lieu of personal confrontation has become such a way of life that I think there'll be enough fodder to keep this going for quite a while. Goodness knows I see enough of them around and, admittedly, have written a few in my day. They usually represent the tipping point for someone's frustration, and emotional writing is usually not someone's finest. The "spelling and grammar police" aspect to it alone is worth the price of admission, but then that's a pet peeve of mine and these kinds of notes are a gold mine for that.

Check it out if you're so inclined and let me know what you think.