The first week in November is World Communication Week, so here’s a communication themed list – facts about mail.
The word mail comes from the Middle English word male, referring to a travelling bag or pack.
The first recorded mail distribution system dates back to Ancient Egypt in 2400 BC as a means for Pharaohs to distribute their decrees. The first widespread postal system comes from Ancient Persia. King Cyrus the Great decreed that every province in the kingdom needed a delivery service back in 550BC. There were even negotiations with neighbouring countries. A road was built between Western Iran and the Eastern city of Hakha especially for mail deliveries.
There’s a word for a book written in the style of letters to and from the main characters: epistolary.
In America, it is legal to send live animals in the mail as long as they can survive in transit without food or water, and are not dangerous, diseased, bad smelling or noisy. Until 13 June 1920 it was legal to post a human being, and people did, because it was cheaper than a train fare. An oft quoted example is that of May Pierstorff who was mailed by her parents to her grandparents in 1914 for exactly that reason. She rode in the mail car and was handed over to her grandparents by the mail clerk. Needless to say, then, Richard Lee McNair was breaking the law when he got himself a job in prison repairing mail bags, climbed inside one and mailed himself out of prison in 2006.
The Royal Mail dates back to 1516 when King Henry VIII established the position of “Master of the Post.” In 1635 King Charles I made the Royal Mail available to the public.
Postal workers have a patron saint – The Archangel Gabriel, bringer of messages. Perhaps the many postmen who get attacked by Dogs each year (6,000 in the US and 3,000 in Germany are the two figures for dog attacks per year that I found) should invoke him more often. In the US, posties are given tips to avoid getting attacked by dogs while in Germany, they are given training courses in dog psychology.
It’s probably fair to say that Cats don’t care about the mailman. However, in 19th century Belgium there was actually an experiment in which cats were trained to deliver mail. Of the 37 cats in the programme, only one actually delivered anything.
Rather more successful was an experiment in 1959 when USPS attempted to deliver mail in a cruise missile and successfully shipped 3,000 pieces of mail from Virginia to Florida in 22 minutes.
Every year the postal service in Israel receives over 1,000 letters addressed to God. Postal workers open them and put the letters in cracks within the Western Wall, which is believed to be the most likely place for God’s divine presence to manifest.
There is an American band called The Postal Service. It being America, where people sue at the drop of a hat if they think they can extract money from people, the US Postal Service demanded that the band stopped using the name – by means of a cease and desist letter, naturally. In the end, they settled out of court with the band allowed to keep their name in exchange for playing a free show at US Postal Service national conference.
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