Whenever we have an appointment coming soon, we are sure to receive–by email, by regular mail, by phone, by text, maybe by all of the above–a “friendly reminder” of the impending event.
I wonder how this phrase began. It is not, apparently, because
those who receive such a message will subsequently receive an ‘unfriendly
reminder’ or other hostile aide-mémoire;
at least I have never received one.There is never even just a neutral reminder,
e.g., “This is a reminder that you have a dental appointment at…” Every
reminder is “friendly”.
It must be that reminders are themselves considered ipso facto
unfriendly, so the negative connotations of reminders must be exorcised by an
ameliorating designation of ‘friendly’.
Are reminders unfriendly because they imply that the recipient is a
scatterbrain, a forgetful silly goose who does not know where he is or is
supposed to be? Who can tell?
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Just a friendly reminder that my books, which are really quite good, are still available.
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