Ever wonder how flowers get fertilized without being able to move around? Some flowers can only be fertilized by pollen from another flower. This process is called cross-pollination. Amazingly, these flowers get the pollen they need from other flowers without having to move an inch. How? Bees bring the pollen.

The bees crawl around in one flower and get covered with that flowers pollen. Then the bees fly to other flowers and crawl around in them, leaving behind the pollen, fertilizing the other flowers in the process.

The one flower sends the pollen. The other receives the pollen. Neither moves anywhere.

Thats what email is like.

One person sends something (a message) and the other person receives it, while neither person had to move at all. In the case of email, the thing thats sent is carried by a specific part of the Internet that delivers email messages.

But email is slightly different than the bee example in that the message doesnt go directly from one person to the other. Instead, it stops in the middle at a server, which is just a computer hooked up to the Internet. The message waits there until the other person is ready to receive it. So its as if the bee gets the pollen, then waits by the lily pond until the second flower says its ready for the pollen.

Another difference is that unlike with the bees, using email doesnt lead to getting fertilized but of course that depends on what type of emails youre sending.

And thats why email is like cross-pollination by bees.

Grant Pasay

Grant Pasay is a professional website copywriter, advertising copywriter, and SEO copywriter serving clients in Vancouver, BC and everywhere. Grant is also the author of the FREE e-book, "The Internet Is Like A Refrigerator."