Like Photoshop, you could erase the last word and then decide not to. Or you could choose to kill the entire history and eliminate the existence of the conversation altogether. Examples: Don't ever call Shiela "Jamie"by mistake ever again. And ever want to take those three little words back? Try "I love you"---edit undo, insert "I love NY".-- julien, Aug 15 2000 YPL: Load / Save LIFE http://www.iamlost.com/features/life/Why stop at conversations? [jutta, Aug 15 2000] how to divorce a muslim woman http://www.uh.edu/c.../women/distort.htmland some other stuff too. [mihali, Aug 15 2000, last modified Oct 04 2004] the modern way? http://www.frontpag...2000/rb05-09-00.htmsaying it with style. [mihali, Aug 15 2000, last modified Oct 04 2004] I guess my inclinations are betrayed by admitting I've had a similar idea, only with "save" and "restore."-- bookworm, Aug 15 2000 Undo "I do"-- thumbwax, Sep 15 2000 that's a great tagline for divorce attorneys.-- julien, Sep 18 2000 English middle & upper classes (eg television shows, & real people) also indicate tentative conversations. These 'uncertains', 'indefinites' are shown by the choice of words or the tone of voice. Also, other body gestures can reinforce this.
As an Chinese person (Hakka language), I know that in East Asia we have similar tentative paraverbal and nonverbal accompaniments to our verbals. These non-verbals can also indicate 'Undo', in many levels, and many steps in reverse.-- gz, May 11 2001 thumbwax: in some muslim cultures, a man can divorce a woman by saying "i divorce you", although certain conditions must be met, and the divorce occurs over the course of a few months. see links. the second one is a story about a guy who went the real "undo" way and divorced his wife by e-mail!-- mihali, May 11 2001 No he didn't. From a google-cached single article reporting on the actual _outcome_ of the trial (as opposed to gazillions reporting on it taking place):
"In the United Arab Emirates, the personal status court of Dubai has ruled out divorce by e-mail. An American Arab informed his Saudi wife - who was living separately - of the divorce by e-mail before filing a case in the Dubai court, according to reports in the English-language daily Gulf News and agency despatches published here.
"There is no such thing as an internet divorce. A request for divorce must be registered and recorded in the official register," Mr Hassan Al-Bassouni, chairman of the Personal Status Court said. The divorce between the two parties, who are journalists working for international news agencies, will be finalised in early June."
So, to summarize, there's really nothing here; even the participants knew that they had to file for the divorce; they may have tried to get the emailing accepted, but it was quickly thrown out, and they didn't rely on it.
(The UK register commented that they've known of a case where someone "was dumped by his 'lady friend' by SMS." LJBF...)
There also was a similar, but much more evil case brought to court at a similar time in Alexandria, Egypt; in that case, the man, who was a foreign exchange student at the time, had divorced his wife via e-mail; she had gone off and remarried based only on that e-mail, and the e-mail's sender returned later and successfully had the divorce declared invalid.-- jutta, May 11 2001 ok jutta, i bow to your greater searching powers :o) i had heard of this story a few times from some friends and in-laws, and thought it to have actually happened. i should have said he _tried_ to divorce his wife by e-mail.-- mihali, May 11 2001 The Search-Engine Ninja strikes again!-- StarChaser, May 12 2001 I dunno. I like people taking responsibility for their actions. After a few excellent exposures to the taste of stale, muddy leather and fresh toes (from inserting their foot in their mouth), I find many have less of a problem with this phenomenon.-- djanaba, Jun 03 2001 Oh how much do I wish this could be done?-- kaz, Nov 19 2001 "Sometimes my brain wishes my mouth had call waiting!"-- not_only_but_also, Oct 08 2004 random, halfbakery