If we sifted through your old drawers and boxes and published all the love letters you wrote at 20 years old, chances are there would be some embarrassing phrases.
And what if we went back even further? A likely treasure trove of "Do You Like Me? Check Yes Or No" letters would rain down from the attic, heart-dotted i's and terrible poetry abounds.
If you're Sid Vicious, the former bassist for the Sex Pistols and one of the world's most renowned punk rock musicians, your love letters are apparently pretty straightforward. At least the one recently published by Letters of Note, a blog that highlights past correspondences.
In his letter, which can be read here in full, Vicious writes a list of things he loves about his then girlfriend, the punk groupie Nancy Spungen, on a piece of torn-out notebook paper.
(Warning: cover you children's eyes for number nine. Or at least be prepared for an awkward conversation.)
"What Makes Nancy So Great By Sidney"
1. Beautiful2. Sexy3. Beautiful figure4. Great sense of humour5. Makes extremely interesting conversation6. Witty7.. Has beautiful eyes8. Has fab taste in clothes9. Has the most beautiful wet p***y in the world10. Even has sexy feet11. Is extremely smart12. A great Hustler
The letter was written in 1978, just months before Spungen was mysteriously stabbed and killed in a hotel room. The knife that killed her was traced to Vicious, but numerous conspiracy theories are attached to her death. One version was explored in Alex Cox's 1986 biopic, "Sid and Nancy," which took a look at their complicated, violent relationship and paints its own picture of the night Spungen was stabbed.
Vicious was set to go on trial for her murder, but before the trial took place he overdosed on heroin and died.
After the tragic events, the rock critic Lester Bangs famously wrote: "A young woman is dead. I don’t care. You probably don’t care. The police don’t care. The papers don’t care. The punks for the most part don’t care. The only people that care are (I suppose) her parents and (I’m almost certain) the boy accused of murdering her."
When New York Magazine reported on the anniversary of her death 30 years later, they quoted Legs McNeil as saying that the events surrounding Spungen's death "killed punk overnight." The scene was never the same.