How to Visibly Delete Text in Emails

Usually, when you delete something, you want the end result to appear as if it had never been there. If I mistype a word and catch the error before the spell checker can embarrass me, I backspace and make it look as if nothing had happened.

Sometimes, however, you may want to delete something, but in a way that reveals your intention, a way that lets the reader take part in what happened.

A Freudian slip, for example, is a wonderful thing to document. If you make a funny, revealing slip while typing an email (writing, I don't know, "yes, that's beta" when you also meant — albeit not meant enough — to say "yes, that's better"), how can you share that insight without embarking on a long, cumbersome and tired paragraph explaining what happened?

Or maybe you want to say something while, at the same time, taking it back. Maybe you want to hint at a mysterious knowledge you may or may not have about Mozart and the introduction of the potato in Prussia. How can you delete the potato without deleting it?

Visibly Delete Text in Emails

To delete text in emails visibly:

• Type "^h" for every character you would otherwise delete using the Backspace key.
  • Write "yes, that's beta^h^htter", for example.

If you write an email using HTML formatting, you can also strike out the characters you want to delete.

The "^h" stands for the Ctrl-H keyboard combination used for deleting the character before the cursor in many operating systems and editors. Since not everybody may know this shorthand, it can still be advisable to spell out what you are doing rather than confuse the reader.