Do kids still have penpals?

Pighead

When Pighead was a kid he had an Italian penpal called Anna Valentino. She was from Florence and she meant everything to Pighead for at least 7 months in 1988.

We wrote to each other once a month and by the 3rd letter we knew everything about each other (She loved Zucchero, Bon Jovi and Aswad and her favourite food was Spaghetti Bolognese). We'd arranged to meet in England but not until we were 12 because we thought our parents wouldn't let us travel alone til then.

As with all relationships with 11 year old Italian girls this one fizzled out and Pighead was alone once more. Pighead sent his 7th letter to Anna in October and waited and waited and waited but she never sent one back.

Some say she simply got sick of writing letters to a faceless young Irish lad, some say she didn't take kindly to Pighead telling her that Bon Jovi were shite but Pighead has always liked to think that Anna and her whole family were killed in a horrific knife attack whilst they slept in the dead of night.

Anyway whats the story with kid these days? With the advent of all things Internet Pigheads guessing the kids aren't writing to each other using pen and paper these days but do they have internet penpals? Or has Bebo, Facebook etc destroyed this noble tradition?

6th

Has Pighead not tried to find her? Maybe her parents stopped her from writing because they wanted her to married a nice Italian boy?

Lets find Anna Valentino!

6th

Well its not this one, she's only 17 and from Glasgow .. not a Bon Jovi fan either:

http://www.bebo.com/Profile.jsp?MemberId=15495904

Ponster

Dead and buried I'd say.

Waiting for weeks to get a letter describing their home/family/life has been surpassed by an e-mail/blog update/myspace post.

I think only death row inmates use it now.

Pighead

6th wrote: »

Has Pighead not tried to find her? Maybe her parents stopped her from writing because they wanted her to married a nice Italian boy?

Lets find Anna Valentino!

Looked her up a few years back but only got as far as finding some Italian actress who starred in erotic movies. Got distracted after that and went away to do other stuff.

Tigger

pighead you have all the luck but i used to write to

6th

I bet monkeyfudge has some good penpal stories, lets conjure him up!

monkey, monkey, monkey!

5starpool

Ya, I used to have a couple of penpals as well. An italian firl and an american girl.

All seemed so exotic yet innocent then didn't it? Ah the old days.

6th

Anna Valentino is a member of a band in Rome. She looks the right age?

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=150962515

Pighead

Ponster wrote: »

Dead and buried I'd say.

Waiting for weeks to get a letter describing their home/family/life has been surpassed by an e-mail/blog update/myspace post.

I think only death row inmates use it now.

Speaking of Death Row inmates Pighead has just wrote to a pretty Native Indian called Diamond Yellowrobe in the hope of reigniting the wonderful world of Penpalling.

http://www.cellpals.com/yellowrobediamond1206.htm

Some may say that Pighead only chose Diamond because shes easy on the eye but to be honest it was this sentence that made me realise we were meant for each other.
"I am looking for a gentleman who is attentive, honest, reliable, sweet and very generous with his love and money."

Ponster

Naaaa, she's clearly trying to con you. This one sounds much better...

http://www.cellpals.com/franklinsherie0807.htm

chopperbyrne

Social networking sites, blogs and the inability to write or spell correctly have replaced pen pals.

Pighead

Ponster wrote: »

Naaaa, she's clearly trying to con you. This one sounds much better...

http://www.cellpals.com/franklinsherie0807.htm

Must admit, she does sound like a good un. Especially likes the bit where she says
"I am a lady at all times."
The ability to be female at all times is always one of the first things Pighead looks for in a women.

_blank_

I used to have a penpal, in Spain.

We met while I was on holiday in Salou about twelve years ago, and we wrote to each other for a year. I went back to Salou for another holiday the followinf summer, and we met up.

All of my friends slagged her off for being not very attractive, and I think she knew they were talking about her behind her back.

I did write back again when I got home, but she never replied again

I wonder how she's doing.

Googling her name gives nothing.

faceman

Great thread pighead!

I used to have 2 penpals when i was a teenager. A bird in germany and a bird in USA. (i insisted on having female penpals only) The bird in germany was quite cool and sent me big letters and lots of photos n stuff.

But like pighead it fizzled out after about 2 years.

Funny, had forgotten all about that. Oh the memories. Im sure i have snaps somewhere...

Oh and to answer your question, yeah i think the interwebz has killed traditional penpals but younsters nowadays like to add randomers to their bebo's so maybe it has just evolved?

Wertz

Kids writing letters? They wouldn't be able to find a post box let alone format a proper letter.
But y bthr wen dey cn jus txt?

Pighead

chopperbyrne wrote: »

Social networking sites, blogs and the inability to write or spell correctly have replaced pen pals.

Yeah but you need internet to be part of the great Social Networking revolution. Does this mean that Penpalling is still alive and well in impoverished backward places like Mozambique, Panama and Longford?

whatsgoinon

I had a penpal from Ghana whose letters used to provide hours of endless amusement for my friends and me, it fizzled out when he wrote me a letter asking for a pair of levis so he would look nice at his mothers birthday party, and a computer for her present... where did he think a 14 year old was going to get that kind of cash!!

ryoishin

she prob got herself a fella who did nt approve of her writing to an irishman (boy).

Pighead

ryoishin wrote: »

she prob got herself a fella who did nt approve of her writing to an irishman (boy).

No offence ryoishin (What the hells up with that username? Its hard to pronounce, its not capitalised but worst of all it makes no sense) but there's no way you can say "she probably got herself a new fella who didn't approve of her writing to Pighead.

Any one of a billion things could have happened. To pick one of those things and to say that its "probably" the right answer shows a complete disregard for stats and probability. In future keep your "probablies" to yourself.

Thanks for replying though.

Witcher

im 16 and i still have a penpal :pac:


shes from virginia in america


iv defied you all who thought penpals were dead and buried!! :pac:



:cool::cool::cool:

chopperbyrne

blay1 wrote: »

im 16 and i still have a penpal :pac:


shes from virginia in america


iv defied you all who thought penpals were dead and buried!! :pac:



:cool::cool::cool:

A random girl from Virginia added me on myspace over a year ago and I talk to her all the time.

Maybe it's just Virginians that are keeping it alive!

blay1

blay1 wrote: »

iv defied you all who thought penpals were dead and buried!! :pac:

I think you're confusing 'penpals' with 'Madeline McCann'.

Witcher

Myth wrote: »

I think you're confusing 'penpals' with 'Madeline McCann'.

have a bit of respect will ya? jesus :cool::pac:




:cool::cool::cool:

Shield

Damn! Penpals.

Memories of writing to some kid in Kildare came flooding back. We both realised at around the same time that we were only 20 miles away from each other. The nail in the coffin was the picture Fran sent me of HIM and his family. I naively thought Fran was a girl.

Fran's favourite TV show was Into The Labyrinth... just in case you were wondering like...

ibh

Pighead wrote: »

Yeah but you need internet to be part of the great Social Networking revolution. Does this mean that Penpalling is still alive and well in impoverished backward places like Mozambique, Panama and Longford?

I like your style Pighead, dissing Longford cause they are lucky enough to be the next team to be beaten by Dundalk. I should warn you though that there are a few Lonford expats living in Dublin so you may get some flak for that comment.

Oh and Mozambique is indeed impoverished but fcuk all people there speak English so unless you are good with the Portuguese language stick to Longford.

ironictoaster

I have a penpal from Florida. Travelled over twice to see her, good person.

ironictoaster

psni wrote: »

Damn! Penpals.

Memories of writing to some kid in Kildare came flooding back. We both realised at around the same time that we were only 20 miles away from each other. The nail in the coffin was the picture Fran sent me of HIM and his family. I naively thought Fran was a girl.

Fran's favourite TV show was Into The Labyrinth... just in case you were wondering like...

hahaha, good stuff

Pighead

blay1 wrote: »

im 16 and i still have a penpal :pac:


shes from virginia in america


iv defied you all who thought penpals were dead and buried!! :pac:



:cool::cool::cool:

Ah interesting. A kid who has a penpal. The thread has done its job and has highlighted that penpalling is alive and well. Now to try and get into the mind of a 16 year old penpaller.

Hey ya blay1 how are you. Pighead just has a couple of questions for you if you don't mind.

1/ How long have you been writing to your Virginian penpal? Has the relationship maintained its innocence or have the letters become racier you've both got older?

2/ At this moment in time do you think that you're Virginian girl will be your penpal buddy for life or have you come to terms with the fact with the sad but inevitable truth that its very possible that in 5 years you will not remember this girls name?

Cheers blay1.

kelle

I had 2 penpals, one in France and one in Germany. I met the one fron Germany twice.
As I longed to travel, it was interesting finding out about life in other countries.
E-mailing or Bebo is just not the same.

azezil

A gal from Canada and a guy from Tunisia, maaan that was a long long time ago!
The girly wanted to meet up, she was a single mother, not bad lookin for a burd I have to say, but I was too young and feared the vag. :pac:

nevaeh-2die-4

Pighead wrote: »

Anyway whats the story with kid these days? With the advent of all things Internet Pigheads guessing the kids aren't writing to each other using pen and paper these days but do they have internet penpals? Or has Bebo, Facebook etc destroyed this noble tradition?

im getting the stench of gary glitter / michael jackson in the air

Fad

i had a penpal from a sailing course, who lives up in northern ireland, it ended oh say 2 years ago with the advent of the internet in my house, (i still writing letters though) i met up with her recently and BOY was she an unpleasnt human being

[i do however find her best friend rather attractive ]

Poxyshamrock

I had a slovenian penpal when I was 13 back in 2004!
Eventually we ditched our postal addresses and started emailing each other.
Wasn't quite the same.

Toto Wolfcastle

I had a French penpal in primary school. Our French teacher made us write to this other class in France. My penpal was a loser. She used to send me loads of photos of her horses and I think she might have been a bit obsessed with them. As soon as the school year ended I 'lost' her address.

I also had an Irish penpal who I met on holidays. I remember replying to her letter on my lovely flowery paper and asking her to send me her address so I could write to her. I was an idiot child.

RxQueen

janeybabe wrote: »

I also had an Irish penpal who I met on holidays. I remember replying to her letter on my lovely flowery paper and asking her to send me her address so I could write to her. I was an idiot child.

hahahahaha:D

I always wanted a penpal , my mam wouldnt leave me

altough on bebo i do have quite a few randomers that i speak to everyday, it fills the whole that was left in my childhood:cool:

Witcher

Pighead wrote: »

Ah interesting. A kid who has a penpal. The thread has done its job and has highlighted that penpalling is alive and well. Now to try and get into the mind of a 16 year old penpaller.

Hey ya blay1 how are you. Pighead just has a couple of questions for you if you don't mind.

1/ How long have you been writing to your Virginian penpal? Has the relationship maintained its innocence or have the letters become racier you've both got older?

2/ At this moment in time do you think that you're Virginian girl will be your penpal buddy for life or have you come to terms with the fact with the sad but inevitable truth that its very possible that in 5 years you will not remember this girls name?

Cheers blay1.

question 1= writing about 5 months and yes they have maintained their innocence :pac: why would they not?

question 2= im not too sure about that probably forget her name id say
but i hope it to be for life



:cool::cool::cool:

WindSock

I used to live in France and had a penpal from Ireland. I sent her pictures of my beloved horses then she stopped writing to me suddenly. I often thought of sending her one of their heads. I still think of her often and want my pictures back.

Toto Wolfcastle

WindSock wrote: »

I used to live in France and had a penpal from Ireland. I sent her pictures of my beloved horses then she stopped writing to me suddenly. I often thought of sending her one of their heads. I still think of her often and want my pictures back.

And I can only imagine what you want to do with those pictures!

watna

WindSock wrote: »

I used to live in France and had a penpal from Ireland. I sent her pictures of my beloved horses then she stopped writing to me suddenly. I often thought of sending her one of their heads. I still think of her often and want my pictures back.

For once, I did actually Lol!

Tha Gopher

Pighead wrote: »

her favourite food was Spaghetti Bolognese.

mamma mia!!!

I hope you replied that ya love a good faydin of sphuds.

As with all relationships with 11 year old Italian girls this one fizzled out and Pighead was alone once more.

Ive been trying to track down this guy I was in prison with who....


Actually Ill take it to PM Pighead......

ryoishin

pighead "No offence ryoishin (What the hells up with that username? Its hard to pronounce, its not capitalised but worst of all it makes no sense) "

Its pronounced roy-shin, its japanese.


"but there's no way you can say "she probably got herself a new fella who didn't approve of her writing to Pighead.

Any one of a billion things could have happened. To pick one of those things and to say that its "probably" the right answer shows a complete disregard for stats and probability. In future keep your "probablies" to yourself. "

Your probably right. Get a private investigator it would make an interesting thread.

I had a Japanese penpal once and stopped writing to her coz she was puting xxx at the end of her letters. How stupid was I, I ve been to Japan twice since. Although it was organised by the school I went to and Id say it would be a good idea for schools to do.

Dont be at yourself

Its pronounced roy-shin, its japanese.

Really? Doesn't sound right to me!

I never had a penpal. However, I once went on a French Exchange in Bordeaux. Didn't speak any french though, because I was a very lazy child.

ryoishin

as in ryoishinto ryu, a martial art.

vektarman

ryoishin wrote: »

as in ryoishinto ryu, a martial art.

Shame on those philistines not knowing that.

ryoishin

well said, anyhow the kanji would prob make better sense.

Back to the topic. If I had a penpal id want one of those quill feather pens. Just coz there cool.

vektarman

I never had a penpal but one day I threw a message in a bottle into the sea in Dollymount, weeks later I got a reply, it had floated all the way to Sutton:eek:

BaZmO*

Our French teacher in secondary school hooked us up with a class of French females who we'd write letters to so that we could improve our French. Didn't really work though as we'd start off the letters in French and then half way through we'd switch to English.
As you can imagine, it wasn't long before the bits in French became less and less and the bits in English became more and more.
Je mappelle Barry, J'habite Dublin and J'ai 13 ans can only really used in the first letter, gets a bit weird if you keep on using them. After that it just becomes like homework, something I wasn't particularly fond of tbh. It's probably the reason why it just fizzled out, on my side anyway. But aul Sandrine was fond of the aul fancy paper and highlighters, some of her letters wouldn't of looked out of place in the Louvre, well maybe the Tate due to all the highlighters!

Just googled her name and got a few results back, not sure if any of them are her though, but she might've married which would give the wrong search results, but having seen her picture I'm not so sure. Unless of course she was a late bloomer.

pickarooney

They have school tours to Japan[/] now? Lord bless us and save us!

I had a pen-pal once, a Jamaican chick called (I think) Tanya Brown. The little minx kept promising to send her photo next time but kept on forgetting. I believe it's my turn to write back...

halfinch

When in primary school, the teacher made us fill out these forms to get penpals...i barely remember keeping it up for about a year....had a penpal from Dublin aswell, the big smoke, kept in touch with her for about eight years even met her a couple of times....nice girl

ryoishin

it was nt a school tour. You could try the french boards to find her, she could writing the same thing about you.