Pen pal
Encyclopedia
Pen pals are people
who regularly write to each other, particularly via postal mail.
, to improve literacy
, to learn more about other countries and life-styles, and to make friendships. As with any friendships in life, some people remain penpals for only a short time, while others continue to exchange letters and presents for life. Some penpals eventually arrange to meet face to face; sometimes leading to serious relationships, or even marriage
.
Penpals come in all ages, nationalities and cultures. Pals may seek new penfriends based on their own age group, a specific occupation, hobby, or select someone totally different from them to gain knowledge about the world around them.
Most people writing to a penpal do not use their native language in their letters, with the exception of natives in Western countries.
A modern variation on the traditional penpal arrangement is to have a keypal and exchange email
addresses as well as or instead of paper letters. This has the advantage of saving money and being more immediate, allowing many messages to be exchanged in a short period of time. The disadvantage is that the communication can be very ephemeral if the email messages are not routinely saved. Many people prefer to receive paper letters, gaining the satisfaction of seeing their name carefully printed on a thick envelope in the letterbox. Using postal mail, it is possible to trade coupons, swap slips, postcard
s, stamps
and anything else light and flat enough to fit inside an envelope, often called "tuck-ins". Many penpallers like to trade sheets of stickers, notecards and stationery sets.
Penpal clubs can be found on the Internet
, in magazine columns, newspapers, and sometimes through clubs or special interest groups. Some people are looking for romantic interests, while others just want to find friends. It seems, on the internet, that the term "pen pals" defines those looking for relationships, where pen pals originated via postal mail correspondences and has evolved to mean something more. Penpals also make and pass around friendship book
s, slams and crams.
In recent years, pen pal correspondence with prison inmates has gained acceptance on the Internet. Many pen pal newsletters do not publish prison pen pal ads because these communications require more caution, not simple friendships. WriteAPrisoner.com
and many other prison pen pal sites are proactive, though, in offering full disclosure of inmates' crimes and providing advice for would be pen pals.
Organizations can be split into three main categories: free, partial subscription, and subscription-based clubs. Free clubs are usually funded by advertising and profiles are not reviewed, whereas subscription-based clubs will usually not contain any advertising and will have an administrator approving profiles to the database.
While the traditional snail mail
pen pal relationship has fallen into a decline due to modern technology closing the world's communication
gap, prison pen pal services have combined technology with traditional letter writing. These sites allow inmates to place pen pal ads online; however, inmates in the United States
and most of the world are not permitted to access the Internet. Therefore the pen pal relationships with inmates is still conducted via postal mail. Other pen pal organizations have survived by embracing the technology of the Internet.
n author Geraldine Brooks wrote a memoir
entitled Foreign Correspondence (1997) about her childhood, which was enriched by her exchanges of letters with other children in Australia and overseas and her travels as an adult in search of the people they had become.
In the 1970s, syndicated children's television program Big Blue Marble
often invited viewers to write to them for their own pen pal.
On another children's TV show, Pee-wee's Playhouse
, Pee-wee Herman
would often receive pen pal letters.
At the 1964/1965 World's Fair
in New York, the Parker Pen pavilion provided a computer pen pal matching service. This service was officially terminated by Parker Pen in 1967. This service did not work in conjunction with any other pen friend clubs. The computer system and database used for this service were not sold, taken over, or continued in any way.
In the Peanuts
comic strip from the 1960s and 1970s, Charlie Brown tries to write to a pen pal using a fountain pen but after several literally "botched" attempts, Charlie switches to using a pencil and referring to his penpal as his "pencil-pal", with his first letter to his "pencil-pal" explaining the reason for the name change.
The 1999 Bollywood
film Sirf Tum
is about two people who fall in love after becoming pen pals.
People
People is a plurality of human beings or other beings possessing enough qualities constituting personhood. It has two usages:* as the plural of person or a group of people People is a plurality of human beings or other beings possessing enough qualities constituting personhood. It has two usages:*...
who regularly write to each other, particularly via postal mail.
Purposes
A penpal relationship is often used to practice reading and writing in a foreign languageForeign language
A foreign language is a language indigenous to another country. It is also a language not spoken in the native country of the person referred to, i.e. an English speaker living in Japan can say that Japanese is a foreign language to him or her...
, to improve literacy
Literacy
Literacy has traditionally been described as the ability to read for knowledge, write coherently and think critically about printed material.Literacy represents the lifelong, intellectual process of gaining meaning from print...
, to learn more about other countries and life-styles, and to make friendships. As with any friendships in life, some people remain penpals for only a short time, while others continue to exchange letters and presents for life. Some penpals eventually arrange to meet face to face; sometimes leading to serious relationships, or even marriage
Marriage
Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...
.
Penpals come in all ages, nationalities and cultures. Pals may seek new penfriends based on their own age group, a specific occupation, hobby, or select someone totally different from them to gain knowledge about the world around them.
Most people writing to a penpal do not use their native language in their letters, with the exception of natives in Western countries.
A modern variation on the traditional penpal arrangement is to have a keypal and exchange email
Email
Electronic mail, commonly known as email or e-mail, is a method of exchanging digital messages from an author to one or more recipients. Modern email operates across the Internet or other computer networks. Some early email systems required that the author and the recipient both be online at the...
addresses as well as or instead of paper letters. This has the advantage of saving money and being more immediate, allowing many messages to be exchanged in a short period of time. The disadvantage is that the communication can be very ephemeral if the email messages are not routinely saved. Many people prefer to receive paper letters, gaining the satisfaction of seeing their name carefully printed on a thick envelope in the letterbox. Using postal mail, it is possible to trade coupons, swap slips, postcard
Postcard
A postcard or post card is a rectangular piece of thick paper or thin cardboard intended for writing and mailing without an envelope....
s, stamps
Postage stamp
A postage stamp is a small piece of paper that is purchased and displayed on an item of mail as evidence of payment of postage. Typically, stamps are made from special paper, with a national designation and denomination on the face, and a gum adhesive on the reverse side...
and anything else light and flat enough to fit inside an envelope, often called "tuck-ins". Many penpallers like to trade sheets of stickers, notecards and stationery sets.
Penpal clubs can be found on the Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
, in magazine columns, newspapers, and sometimes through clubs or special interest groups. Some people are looking for romantic interests, while others just want to find friends. It seems, on the internet, that the term "pen pals" defines those looking for relationships, where pen pals originated via postal mail correspondences and has evolved to mean something more. Penpals also make and pass around friendship book
Friendship book
Friendship books are small booklets made by stapling paper together, or are sometimes just sheets or strips of paper. They are usually decorated and the person who starts the book writes their name and address as the first person sending the book. People often include a list of interests as well...
s, slams and crams.
In recent years, pen pal correspondence with prison inmates has gained acceptance on the Internet. Many pen pal newsletters do not publish prison pen pal ads because these communications require more caution, not simple friendships. WriteAPrisoner.com
Writeaprisoner.com
WriteAPrisoner.com is an online Florida, based business whose stated goal is to reduce recidivism through a variety of methods that include: 1) positive correspondence with pen-pals on the outside, 2) educational opportunities, 3) job placement avenues, 4) comprehensive resource guides on a...
and many other prison pen pal sites are proactive, though, in offering full disclosure of inmates' crimes and providing advice for would be pen pals.
Organizations
Many penpals meet each other through organizations that bring people together for this purpose.Organizations can be split into three main categories: free, partial subscription, and subscription-based clubs. Free clubs are usually funded by advertising and profiles are not reviewed, whereas subscription-based clubs will usually not contain any advertising and will have an administrator approving profiles to the database.
While the traditional snail mail
Snail mail
Snail mail or smail is a dysphemistic retronym—named after the snail with its 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...
pen pal relationship has fallen into a decline due to modern technology closing the world's communication
Communication
Communication is the activity of conveying meaningful information. Communication requires a sender, a message, and an intended recipient, although the receiver need not be present or aware of the sender's intent to communicate at the time of communication; thus communication can occur across vast...
gap, prison pen pal services have combined technology with traditional letter writing. These sites allow inmates to place pen pal ads online; however, inmates in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and most of the world are not permitted to access the Internet. Therefore the pen pal relationships with inmates is still conducted via postal mail. Other pen pal organizations have survived by embracing the technology of the Internet.
In popular culture
The AustraliaAustralia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n author Geraldine Brooks wrote a memoir
Memoir
A memoir , is a literary genre, forming a subclass of autobiography – although the terms 'memoir' and 'autobiography' are almost interchangeable. Memoir is autobiographical writing, but not all autobiographical writing follows the criteria for memoir set out below...
entitled Foreign Correspondence (1997) about her childhood, which was enriched by her exchanges of letters with other children in Australia and overseas and her travels as an adult in search of the people they had become.
In the 1970s, syndicated children's television program Big Blue Marble
Big Blue Marble
Big Blue Marble was a half-hour children's television series that ran from 1974 to 1983 in syndication. Distinctive content included stories about children around the world and a pen-pal club that encouraged intercultural communication...
often invited viewers to write to them for their own pen pal.
On another children's TV show, Pee-wee's Playhouse
Pee-wee's Playhouse
Pee-wee's Playhouse is an American children's television program starring Paul Reubens as the child-like Pee-wee Herman. The show was developed from Reubens' popular stage show and the one-off TV special The Pee-wee Herman Show, produced for HBO, which was similar in style but featured much more...
, Pee-wee Herman
Pee-wee Herman
Pee-wee Herman is a comic fictional character created and portrayed by American comedian Paul Reubens. He is best known for his two television series and film series during the 1980s. The childlike Pee-wee Herman character developed as a stage act that quickly led to an HBO special in 1981...
would often receive pen pal letters.
At the 1964/1965 World's Fair
1964 New York World's Fair
The 1964/1965 New York World's Fair was the third major world's fair to be held in New York City. Hailing itself as a "universal and international" exposition, the fair's theme was "Peace Through Understanding," dedicated to "Man's Achievement on a Shrinking Globe in an Expanding Universe";...
in New York, the Parker Pen pavilion provided a computer pen pal matching service. This service was officially terminated by Parker Pen in 1967. This service did not work in conjunction with any other pen friend clubs. The computer system and database used for this service were not sold, taken over, or continued in any way.
In the Peanuts
Peanuts
Peanuts is a syndicated daily and Sunday American comic strip written and illustrated by Charles M. Schulz, which ran from October 2, 1950, to February 13, 2000, continuing in reruns afterward...
comic strip from the 1960s and 1970s, Charlie Brown tries to write to a pen pal using a fountain pen but after several literally "botched" attempts, Charlie switches to using a pencil and referring to his penpal as his "pencil-pal", with his first letter to his "pencil-pal" explaining the reason for the name change.
The 1999 Bollywood
Bollywood
Bollywood is the informal term popularly used for the Hindi-language film industry based in Mumbai , Maharashtra, India. The term is often incorrectly used to refer to the whole of Indian cinema; it is only a part of the total Indian film industry, which includes other production centers producing...
film Sirf Tum
Sirf Tum
Sirf Tum is a Bollywood film directed by Agathian. It was released on 11 June 1999. The film features Sanjay Kapoor, Priya Gill, Salman Khan, Sushmita Sen, Simran Bagga and Jackie Shroff. It is a remake of the National award winning Tamil film Kadhal Kottai, which starred Ajith Kumar and Devayani...
is about two people who fall in love after becoming pen pals.