Column:

Mailing it in doesn't apply today

By Spencer Engel

Published Sept. 19, 2008

You know the expression "mailing it in?" It means to give an uninspired performance that's subpar to one's potential. For example, "Wow, the St. Louis Rams are mailing this game in...again." Or, "Will Ferrell totally mailed in his performance in 'Step Brothers.'" Well, I was thinking, isn't this expression really outdated? It was probably coined 50 or 60 years ago when mail was the most effective way of long distance communicating.

Nowadays, however, mailing doesn't even rank in the top three easiest ways to communicate. The U.S. Postal Service is millions of dollars in debt, partly because it is impossible to make a trip to the post office in less than half an hour. Even if I want to simply mail a card from home, I have to first buy the card, write some corny message inside it, put it in the envelope, seal the envelope, write the address and finally buy a stamp to stick in the top right corner. Whew! Someone get me Gatorade! I'm tired just from writing that sentence.

Sounds to me like we need a new expression for people who give half-assed performances. I'll gladly take on the challenge. And I won't mail it in.

We have the world at our fingertips. If I want to reach someone in China, all I have to do is open up my e-mail, type in the person's e-mail address and send a message. Boom, that person gets it instantly. Obviously, e-mail is an effective way to quickly communicate in a world that demands speed and timeliness. However, "e-mailing it in" sounds too much like the original saying. Plus, you need to have access to a computer and an e-mail account to e-mail someone. Not everyone has these two things at all hours of the day.

A lot of people do have cell phones at all hours of the day though, which is a big reason communicating by phone has easily surpassed mailing. The evolution of cell phones over the past decade has been remarkable. A person in Florida can talk to a person in Seattle at any hour of the day, whereas 20 years ago in the day of house phones, it was much more difficult to catch someone three time zones over at their house during a convenient time. However, "phoning it in" doesn't sound right. Plus, sometimes people don't want to talk or can't talk because they're in class.

This brings us to texting. While people don't always have access to their e-mail account and can't always talk on the phone, texting is readily available to those who have the feature on their phone. Practically everybody that owns a cell phone has text messaging, which equates to nearly 200 million people in the U.S. being able to text message at any time. Just like the postal service 60 years ago, texting is the most convenient mode of communication, long distance or short, for Americans in 2008.