You got mail!

In primo, kids were very creative in addressing envelopes for etters and notes to friends. You may remember seeing ''boombasticate it to:' sprawled diagonally across the envelope, followed by the recipient's name. 'Open With a Smile' was pretty common, as was 'Kiss before you open'. I still recall the time when best friends would send each other hand-drawn cards, with 'UR2sweet2B4go10' written on the envelope. The 'sweet' part wasn't written, it was actually a hand-drawing of a sweet and you had to figure it out the code (high tech ha?).

In some primos, TAs would open tois' mail just to make sure it wasn't from 'suitors' lurking somewhere beyond the school walls. If a chick was busted for getting mail from a boy, the TA would read the letter out loud to the whole class. The letter would typically be in blue biro with salient points written in red biro. Teacher So and So would punctuate her reading of sentences such as 'You are the only button on my shirt' with a msomo to the busted girl and bemused class on 'the dangers of relationships', before moving on to 'When I see you my heart goes paragasha!' At the end, busted toi would get a good whipping plus a chat with Headi, mum and dad the next day, all because of a strange boy seated somewhere with a blue and red pen.