As the days go by, I think how lucky I am.... Hey, it's Valentine's Day..... How can I say this....? I always wanted to have someone, someone to love.... I love your smile, your face, and your eyes.... I see your face when I am dreaming..... If we were on a sinking ship with only one life jacket... I'm so miserable without you... I want to feel your sweet embrace..... I want you, and I need you... Kind, intelligent, loving and hot..... Looking back over the years, I wonder..... My darling, my love, my beautiful wife... My love, you take my breath away...... Of loving beauty you float with grace.... Someday I hope to marry... We have been friends for a very long time... You are a part of my life....

Receiving cards with the above messages written on the front would make anyone's day.... but opening them to find cruel words would wound deeply.

These cards are not run-of-the-mill "joke" cards. They deliberately seek to hurt, insult, the recipient, with acidic messages, and that is why they are called "Vinegar Valentines".

They were originally sold for one penny - and that is why some people still mistakenly call this type of street literature "penny dreadful" (the name given to potboilers). They counteracted Cupid's sweet arrows with tart barbs.

The picture, when there is one, is usually a caricature of the recipient, according to type... and sometimes, the message makes reference to this too. This is the type of card that Calvin (of Bill Watterson's Calvin and Hobbes) gave to his classmate Susie Derkins, along with a bunch of dead flowers, as an integral part of their love-hate relationship.

It is obvious that these precursors of hate mail were sent anonymously - and seeing that there was a time (not in Malta) before postage stamps were invented, when people had to pay to be given their mail... it means that recipients paid to get insulted.

Raphael Tuck & Sons, proud to be known as "Publishers to Her Majesties the King and Queen" with printing houses in London, Paris and New York, from the mid 1800's into the early 20th Century also got on the Vinegar Valentines bandwagon, when they realised that it paid.

One could buy these Vinegar Valentines as we buy "open" cards today. Others were aimed at specific professions that people loved to hate - dentists, undertakers, politicians, lawyers, teachers, or anyone to whom one would have taken a dislike.

These days, most people tend to sign their Valentine cards - especially if they cost good money. It is only a few who want to play the guessing game.

Although Vinegar Valentines have gone out of fashion, some so-called humour cards are crass enough to be classified as worse.

Just in case you were wondering what was written inside the cards, the front of which was quoted at the beginning of the piece... here are the complete messages.

As the days go by, I think how lucky I am... that you are not my girlfriend!

Hey, it's Valentine's Day... too bad no one likes you!

How can I say this...? I can't stand you!

I always wanted to have someone, someone to love... and you're not her!

I love your smile, your face, and your eyes... am I not good at telling lies?

I see your face when I am dreaming... and that is why I wake up screaming.

If we were on a sinking ship with only one life jacket... I'd miss you!

I'm so miserable without you... it's as if you are still here.

I want to feel your sweet embrace... but don't take that paper bag off of your face.

I want you, and I need you... to leave me alone.

Kind, intelligent, loving and hot.... this describes everything you are not.

Looking back over the years, I wonder... what did I see in you?

My darling, my love, my beautiful wife... marrying you messed up my life.

My love, you take my breath away... what have you stepped in to smell this way?

Of loving beauty you float with grace... if only you could hide your face.

Someday I hope to marry... anyone else but you.

We have been friends for a very long time... how about we stop?

You are a part of my life... the negative part.