The written word has conjured love and romance in the hearts and minds of people around the world for hundreds of years. From the poetry and prose of Wordsworth and Shakespeare, to the love letters home from a forces sweetheart carrying their emotions to the heart of someone special. Traditionally it's been songs and letters that have held a written romance - now there's texting, instant messaging via your computer and e-mail. But does a beep on your mobile and I LUV U, say as much as SWALK on the back of a hand-written envelope that carries the scent of a lovers' perfume? And it's not just the methods of communication which have changed – the way in which language is used has changed too. Olga Sinclair is an author of historical romance who's lived in Norfolk all her life. She feels the meaning of words is very different to the way it was. "The words have changed. When you say 'to make love', now it actually means having sex together, going a lot further than when I was young," she said. Love letters Love letters were particularly important to Helen and Bill Cook from Diss. They wrote more than 6000 letters to each other during World War Two. "We used to write on any scrap of paper we could find. Paper was very scarce in those days," said Helen. "Once a week we had an air-letter to send, but it's a wonder they got through in the war," she added. Fortunately, cupid was on Helen and Bill's side and their letters did get through. Helen and Bill have subsequently made it into the Guinness Book of Records for their literary romance. Telling each other how much they cared in those letters was very important. "In a time like that where everything has been destroyed, it was about looking forwards and faith. That we hoped would come together again and of course we did. We were the lucky ones," said Helen. "You'd think you might get tired of telling each other you loved each other, but there were so many ways of saying it in those days," she added. In an extract from a letter Bill wrote to Helen before going overseas, he said: ... and so may you be very happy using each experience as a step towards the time when we can build our own community of fellowship and service. Good night and God bless you my darling. Yours, very much in love, Bill New writing In a modern age, according to people in Norfolk, texts and even e-mails don't appear to have the same appeal as a letter when writing to a loved one. "There's something nice about a letter, something romantic I suppose that you don't get in a text. It's rather impersonal," said one person. "Certainly I would rather send a love letter than I would a love text or whatever. I hope that the written language doesn't fall by the wayside, but I very much suspect that it will," said another. | 
