Exciting news from our friends at Graphic Audio: the full-cast dramatized adaptation of White Hot, Hidden Legacy Volume 2, is officially available for preorder on the GA website, with the release landing in your ears on September 4th!
The preorders on Audible & co should appear late next week, because we’re getting preferential treatment hehe. Usually, we wouldn’t see the September preorder data for another month or so, but GA are making a special exception for the Horde. Just for being our awesome selves. Or maybe because they fear our uprising, who can really tell. It’s a mystery.
And then we’ll have samples and ferrets, and cookies and Leon, and ferrets and samples, and sirens and Bunnys and Rogan POVs and ALL the stuff. Fluffy!
“But Mod R, w*iting? Again?! Change the tune!”
A-HA. You know what we don’t have to be p*tient for? Small Magics in dramatized adaptation, the latest in the Kate Daniels world releases by the spectacular Nora Achrati and golden team.
It comes out tomorrow, June 12th and can be found on the GA website and all usual other retailers. Nora will be taking a small break from kicking butts as Kate, and then we’ll get both Wilmingtons AND Blood Heir in the first half of 2026.
Now. Speaking of hot issues, here’s another emerald blazing problem for you (see what I did there?). I need to tap into Horde wisdom.
I’m *officially* out of the loop on email etiquette trends.
I learned English in school, in the former Eastern Bloc. For over two generations, our knowledge of English was preserved in academic isolation, untouched by anything as messy as the reality of how people actually talk. My teachers, who’d never even met a native English speaker, drilled into me the importance of ‘Dear Sir/Madam‘ and ‘Yours Sincerely‘ from textbooks older than my mother. In my culture, formality means politeness. The more you respect someone and the bigger the age difference or favour you’re asking, the more you ramp it up.
Which means I arrived in England 16 years ago perfectly primed to be an anachronistic little ball of passive aggressiveness.
Who knew ‘Yours sincerely‘ basically means ‘I want to hit you with a chair‘? I found that out the hard way.
I got by with Regards (kind, warm and otherwise) for a while until a work colleague pointed out it’s the embodiment of the side eye emoji. You might as well ‘per my last email’ someone.
I’ve been Best and Best Wishing for a couple of years. Happy insert-day-of-week! Times are hard, don’t judge. I knew it was boring, but I thought I was safe. Gen Z comfortably fires off ‘I hope this email doesn’t find you. I hope you’re free’, ‘Please hesitate to contact me’ and ‘Unhingedly yours’. I’m not there yet. I can’t even bring myself to XOXO, Gossip Mod.
Mr Mod R peeked at my email this morning and let out a chuckle (blood-curdling in hindsight). “Best wishes. Harshhhhh. What did they do?”
Who can keep up?! Not moi.
I trust your collective brilliance to guide me out of email faux pas territory. Drop your favorite email openings and endings in the comments below. Help me keep the Horde’s chalant-but-kind reputation intact.
Mod R, signing off (with whatever you tell me is cool)
Hi there, hiya, hello, hey Mod R
kindly, thanks
I use those greetings and sign-offs as well in my initial emails.
When responding, I take my cue from the greeting and sign off of the original sender.
+1
I’m 72, retired and had no idea there was a hidden language within English other than my Southern “bless your heart”, so evidently I was telling people to go to blazes (or other more nefarious destinations) for years, which I now find absolutely hilarious. Owned my business for 35 years. Who had time for this nonsense, be cause I sure didn’t.
My personal correspondence, however,has been consistently signed All is well since I was in my 20’s because even if it isn’t right this minute, it will be. Not a Pollyanna, just a strong Southern woman who has struggled through more than a few of life’s challenges.
So my advice is speak your truth, sign off as sincerely as you can and become a woman known for her plain, clear speaking. This playing games with language is juvenile and time consuming.
I am All for clear speech. I know that no matter what I say it will be taken how the reader is wanting to take it. Words have a way of morphing. Find what makes you comfortable and let the freedom shine!
I think nothing of the fact that embedded in my personal email which I do use for personal business is the salutation “Blessed Be,”… For work I have long decided “Regards’ does not need a qualifier… take it however you feel to receive it.
I use blessed be as well when I’m signing witchy stuff, more formal is regards. But I work in HR so finding people well os kind of expected (lol). Worst comes to worst I’ll ask chatGPT to modernize for me.
And a blessed Litha to you too! (Sincere, not sarcastic!)
Agree completely. Enough already with beating up on nice words with mean interpretations.
You go lady, I too am a Southern and believe all this hoopla over words are silly
Say what you mean and mean what you say is brilliant…
Love your advice Meg. Generationally and also geographically things can pick up a subtext not intended. Living in the USA but also the south there is an expectation of manners like you were trained to do Mod R. So for older generations in the south you would be fine. I learned that what is polite in the south is not always welcomed in other areas of this country. But generationally even in the south traditional politeness is picking up new meanings for things. Then expand that to around the world and I imagine it can be overwhelming!
I applaud you for trying to learn about this for various cultures and generations but ultimately you will always miss the mark for someone. So give yourself grace because you will never make everyone happy.
In all of that I tend to sign off with “thanks” or an “I hope you have a great day”. But even that people will assume sarcasm when not intended.
+1
hear hear!
First? 🙃 and same here…
Being an Israeli I always think my English feels like “Greetings children of Earth” 😄…
You could always stick to Hebrew and go with “ben adam” instead :-p
Sababa 😁
I stick to Maori sign offs and hellos in most of my professional emails to New Zealand based recipients. I have been known to use the good morning/afternoon greeting as well as a simple hello after the initial exchange. For sign offs I use the following: warm wishes, best, and please hesitate to contact me again if I’m feeling fiesty
As an American who works with a lot of Kiwis, I find the Kia ora Kate, greeting charming.
Maybe we should just lean into it 🤣.
Fully “For the office of the esteemed Nuan Cee” everyone. What’s the worst that can happen 🫣
Being poisoned? 😉
Being run over? 🫣
Love it.
Signing a life-long contract of servitude?
🤣🤣🙄
🤣🤣🤣🤣😍😍
Lately I’ve been going with Hi X and signing off with “warmly”. But only if I like the person. If I hate them, I sign off with “best” which means “go f**k yourself” 🙂
😭 nobody told me about Best for so long !
I hate “Best.” Best what? Give me a noun, please, something! It feels dismissive and flippant. I’m aware that’s my hangup, and I don’t take it personally, but it’s just a pet peeve.
I’m a grad student and so many academics use this and I want to cry because what does it MEAN (especially when they’re doing thing like approving finance or criticising your work). But I also think they’re not the most socially competent bunch so it probably just means they’re just using it because they couldn’t think of anything better either.
I was perplexed by the “best” sign off in grad school and tried to read warmth into it for years, but once I left that environment, I decided the people using it were actually extremely emotionally stunted and/or full of loathing.
Oh no.
This has been my go to. Usually shortened from “all the best”. Guess I too will be diving into the comments for suggestions
I write hundreds of emails a week for work and they usually end in Best regards or Best. I don’t really think about what Gen Z would want because they make up such a small minority of the workforce. I’m mostly writing to millennials- boomers. Maybe this would change if my clientele were filled with Gen Z, but I doubt it. If that were the case then I’d just text them. (Don’t include periods tho because it’s seen as overly formal and smug)
Yes, because correct grammar is a sign of smugness. Sigh.
Whatever,
Best,
Have a wonderful day,
We can’t ‘win’
I learned today that being polite and friendly sends the wrong message.
I feel exactly the same way! I was reprimanded in my last job for my “formal” writing. I was shown an example of another colleague’s messages as something to emulate. The horror.
I am definitely going to use whatever from now on.
Hi X,
Attached is the document that you need. Thanks!
Whatever,
Me
1. I didn’t know I was being rude?!?
2. As a Gen-Xer, I’m down for Whatever, as a sign off. We can’t win, so why try? Let our apathy shine!
I’m with you on this. I would totally use Best Wishes, or Have a wonderful day.
I found out that I’ve been behind the times for over decade because I use proper punctuation when texting though, so no matter what I do I’m borked.
Boomer and my mother taught English. If they can’t make allowances, too bad…I prefer to consider “formality” “charmingly old-fashioned” since I am Of A Certain Age…
That’s what I thought the first time someone signed off with a “Best,” Not the best way specially when you’re asking me for a favor 🤨
plus I type very sloww in English, so, not first.. 😂
Hooray to all the GA goodness! I will get onto GA, and pre-order. Thanks, Mod R for sharing all the goodness.
When I have to reach out to people at work via e-mail, I usually say “Good morning, [the person’s first name]”. For my e-mail ending, I will say “If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.” Then “Sincerely yours, Patricia”. If it is in a personal e-mail for someone who does not know me, I will put my last name.
I hope this helps, Mod R. 😀
Graphic Audio sent me a very nice surprise last night to download “Small Magics”. I didn’t have to wait until today to get it. 😀
Pre-ordered “White Hot”. Now I have the “Mission Impossible” theme song in my head. I also have “Your mission if you choose to accept is to infiltrate the mansion to obtain the hard drive. This will self destruct in 5-4-3-2-1.”
oh my go to is Hi *who ever* and I end with regards. I find regards can cover the line when you dont know where it is lol
my emails tend to open with hi/hey and then a Hope your week is going well or some other form depending on where in the week it is and how long it’s been since I emailed them last.
and the emails end with Thank You or Cheers depending on the content.
I’m in a professional space though so a certain level of formality is expected. I will dial it up/down depending on the recipient though.
I open with “hey” or “hello”, sometimes “good morning”.
I invariably end with “thanks”, but I also like “cheers”
“Cheers” seems wrong in international emails, which I have to send a lot.
I somehow expect to get a “🤨 do you want to go where everybody knows your name or something? we’re not drinking beer here” answer if I say that lol
Well, who knew all those email salutations were hidden land mines? There’s nothing polite left for professional emails but the ones you mentioned. I end my emails with lots of different ones depending on the context. Thanks and Sincerely are my most frequent. “Regards” is the passive aggressive way.
Non-native speaker here, who spent years in the UK (quite a while back, alas…).
The “cheers” discussion reminds me of a situation where a good British friend took me aside to point out that using “cheers” like that was, well, rather lower-class and I should really refrain from using it so as to avoid giving the wrong impression.😶 Let’s just say “cheers” to that, eh?🥂😅
If there is one thing that has definitely stayed with me from my UK days: if in doubt, be rather more polite than less…
I rely heavily on seasonally appropriate closes. Enjoy flag day! (snicker) Happy Spring/summer/fall etc. Bastille Day is around the corner
Canadian here. I also sign off with ‘thanks’ and ‘cheers’ often. Or if I need a response: ‘Please let me know; thanks’.
I work for an international company and many of my coworkers use ‘cheers’ too. Looking at my emails, they’re American, Polish, Swiss, Italian, etc.
Okay. Now I feel like a right rube!
I’ve ended all my blog comments with “Cheers!”
No wonder I’m NOT getting any love… [sigh].
My written letters and cards (eg: 30 some years ago) have always dictated my email greetings and closings: “Hello, [name],” and “Sincerely, [my name]” or “Thank you.” just like my middle school English teacher taught us (a thousand years ago!).
Mrs. Grant also taught us that women cannot stand up and give a speech to an audience with our feet shoulder-width apart and hands behind our backs like a soldier, or a man. No, we had to put one foot slightly forward, almost inline with the rear foot, toes a bit angled out, wear a skirt and a blouse like proper ladies, and absolutely no gum-chewing! (I think we might have moved beyond that particular female etiquette. At least, I hope so!)
I am a product of my generation. Despite my early adoption of personal computers (1982) and electronic gadgets, I still write lengthy “digital letters” to my friends, family, clients and the public in general.
My significant other says I love to “Jenn-s’plain” about most things. I can’t help it… I love stringing words and sentences together into paragraphs and essays (most likely unreadable and bordering on yawning-inducing) and more! (Just like the late night infomercial programs, “But wait! There’s more!”)
I should just write textbooks. Dry, lifeless and highly opposite of entertaining.
Cheers!
Oh, wait… I can’t use that anymore. I’m killing Mod R… How about:
Toodles!
I’ve been using Cheers for years (ha) with international contacts but I work in a fairly informal industry. I do ramp up to Kind or Warm regards with some Asian contacts due to language differences and the higher degree of formality.
Occasionally I will get a work email from someone I’ve never met in person closing with Hugs, which is funny.
I mostly don’t use any on impersonal emails exactly because of what you mentioned. Sometimes I use “dear sir/ma’am/agent or use a name or title if given. These I generally end with “thank you for your time.”seems common and safe. On personal messages, we’ll, they’re personalized 😄
I find your English charming. You are a fantastic writer, comic or otherwise. I very much enjoy your moderating of IA’s blog. It frequently makes my day. Don’t change a thing about yourself. That being said, I think we all struggle a little bit with the written word as a form of communication since it embodies only a fraction of what we actually meant to convey. Many of the new conventions help somewhat (think () or * or :, etc.) but I am old enough to appreciate politeness and totally understand the courtesy when someone respects me through proper salutations or signatures. More clarity is always a good thing, too. Keep up the great work!
Hi Mod R,
For formal things: “Thank you”
Less formal, but still not informal: “Thanks”
Otherwise: “Cheers”
Of course I’m a boomer, so …
Cheers, Kari
I am a Boomer also. I use Good morning or Good Afternoon and conclude with Thank you.
I usually start with Good (Morning/Afternoon/Evening)
And end with cheers , Thanks for your time, sincerely, kind regards depending on the context or previous contacts/ interactions
I always find the ending of emails awkward and spend too much time debating with myself on how it sounds so whether its professional or not I might even throw in a 😀
Our CEO signs off with Many Thanks.
We all eye roll because it’s unlikely there are thanks much less many.
Corporatespeak would make all of this even more tricky 😭
usually Hello, Hi all, or just their name if its something silly.
I have the formal ‘please let me know if you have any questions’ line most times. But sign offs are ‘have a wonderful day’ or ‘thanks’. But thanks I use as a special way for me to express displeasure, not that other folks use it that way.
Also people usually can sort out the vibe working with you a bit and figure out what is normal for you! So you don’t have to be hip in the ways that everyone else is (if you don’t wanna).
Sign on as Hello or Hey (if family or good friend)
Sign off as Best, or heart emoji if family or friend
My child horrified by stating periods . That nice innocuous sentence ended mean serious anger. She’s been thinking I’m mad all semester-yikes!
Oh nooooo. “Period” or the 👍🏻 response are genuine attacks hahahaha
In texting form, having a period is extra emphasis on the end of the statement. You can already see that the statement has ended because you are looking at the closed text bubble. Or like on this blog, you can see that the person has ended their statement because of the formatting of the comment. When someone adds an extra period it feels instinctively like they put extra force into the end of their statement, because you see the message end twice, once with the formatting and again with the period, thus coming across as passive aggressive.
I tend to compose like I am writing a paper for English class, so most of the time I will end up manually removing periods at the end of whatever I have written
Wow. I had no idea using proper spelling, grammar and punctuation was insulting. That makes no sense to me at all. I am definitely not ever going to be hip or cool. 🤷♀️🤦♀️
I think there is a narrative change needed. We can be hip and cool at any age, any ‘group’ you don’t need to be young or the latest generation.
I’m finding this thread entertaining and informative, land mines indeed.
I find that if someone does not use a period at the end of the sentence (whether texting, e-mailing, or other forms of communication), my brain thinks it’s a run on sentence, and what the person says does not make sense to me.
Then I have to go back and re-read it about 3-4 times to get what the other person is trying to say. For me, that wastes time.
The joys of changing language from generation to generation.
And I take the lack of a “period” to mean that the person wasn’t finished with their thought. So I sit there, waiting for the rest of the sentence. With my adult children, I can figure it out. Lag time mostly.
Everyone else? Not a clue…..
Yes, exactly. Just because a text bubble is by itself doesn’t mean that’s the end of a statement. My son (who is 21) texts me like this all the time:
mom
what did you do
with the
thing i gavu ths mrng
Like, what? We are smashing words together and getting rid of vowels and who cares about breaking up the full thought because I want attention so I am going to make your phone bing rapidly in succession.
Hi — (or Hi, [name] —
And I almost always close with Cheers, Magdalen. (I’m an expat American living in Scotland — “cheers” works for everyone regardless of the nationality because the recipient always thinks I’m being poncey.)
I work with a lot of internationals, so I get a LOT of “I hope this email finds you well.” (The senders are nearly all sincere, so I love it.) I’m actually kind of terrible because I usually just jump into whatever the email is about.
This reminded me of Kieran Healy’s Guide to Interpreting Academic Feedback. There’s one for US grad students with faculty trained in Britain and Ireland and one for UK students with faculty trained in US. Here’s the link — if that’s ok — ModR can edit if not: https://kieranhealy.org/blog/archives/2013/08/16/academic-feedback/.
In the mean time, I’ll be over here doing the Graphic Audio Happy Dance.
Honestly, I don’t think there’s a sign-off that couldn’t be interpreted as passive-aggressive. I tend to go with “thanks.”
THIS IS SO TRUE! Wish I could pin this comment. Everyone who works or studies with English people should read it.
That link would have saved me coming close to messing up my Masters thesis. My poor Financial Regulations professor kept saying it’s “interesting”.
I was thrilled and kept pursuing the angle deeper and deeper.
He must have been sweating bullets at my wide, earnest eyes.
When a professor says “interesting”, I tend to listen to the tone. Saved me from some academic potholes in both my Masters and Doctorate work.
Doesn’t cross the Eastern/Western Europe divide somehow. Or maybe just with me and my neurodivergent brain?
I’ve had years of feedback on “being too direct” when I was just genuine and earnest. And polite effusion British “interesting” was indistinguishable from “wow, you’re discovering new boundaries of Basel banking framework!” to me back then 😅
I had statistical professors from other countries, mainly from India. I learned to listen to the tone and the facial expressions. 😀
I was raised Dutch. Ain’t nobody direct like the Dutch – hoooo boy 😅 top that off with a circle of friends of whom well over 50% score as neurodivergent and yeah, I’ve learned to keep my personal and personal styles of interaction waaaaayyy apart 🙈
But there was a good xkcd a while back about email or correspondence go-to formulae – it saves so much time and energy to just go with the stock phrases, that’s what they’re there for! And being polite never fails imho.
What bugs the absolute stuffing out of me is that Outlook has emojis hard coded in nowadays. I don’t _want_ stupid yellow faces in my professional emails, buzz of! Drives me bonkers…
*darnit, “personal and personal” should read “personal and professional” 🙈
In French : Bonjour (very standard)
Salut ! ( if it’s a friend)
Cordialement, (standard)
Bises, Bisous (if it’s a friend)
Merci! Very helpful!
Mod R – I also struggle with the formality or informality of emails and texts. I looked through some recently sent and realized that in the first communication I leave off all greetings. I start with their name. Sometimes name and position/workplace info. And later communications, I will start with “Hi” or simply start replying to the last message.
I too am guilty of signing off with outdated phrases. I was today’s years old when I learn learned about “Best” lol. Unless it’s a friend or family, I sign off with whatever” hope to hear from you” reflects best the intentions of the note. And then I just sign my name.
It feels very strange to leave those things off; however, my communications usually have punctuation and all words spelled out, so that already makes me old-fashioned! I’m trying to embrace it and lean in to my unique identity as an awkward missive exchanger (which is difficult since I was a communication major in college back when dinosaurs roam the Earth🤪)
I really enjoy your humor and style of writing, please don’t change!
Anyone who uses a semicolon correctly can sign off with whatever they want, as far as I’m concerned.
Here, here!
Absolute truth! Cheers to that!
Hear, hear!
Regina
And apologies – or at least no sarcasm or corrections were intended. I had read none of the responses, was just responding to Kat M’s semicolon comment.
I end many personal communications, “Affectionately,” and punctuation is important to me. (Age 63.)
Fondly,
Regina
Or at all; at least they’re trying.
I keep it simple because I can’t worry about how someone might interpret my greeting or sign off because that’s a losing proposition! What works for one person might bother someone else. 🤷♀️
I start with Hi or Hello and end with my name (personal emails are very different of course).
A friend used to end letters with ‘Yours warmly’ and I adopted that for a while. I haven’t used it for years.
Hello Mod R!
I usually open with hello and end with just my name, but when I’m being formal I’ll sign off…
Best regards,
KathByrd
Wow. I didn’t know any of this. How have I not been fired yet? I mean I now it’s impolite when sometimes I get excited and crank out 3 paragraphs explaining the problem, why I’m contacting YOU about it, and what I think the fix is. Send it off with no title, no greeting, and no closing. Those I understand require some spade work to get out of the hole I’ve dug. But to find out I’m ALWAYS super rude? Yeesh.
I either use Regards or Thank you depending on my message and I work in Human Resources I try not to use anything that has emotional meaning attached as that can go very wrong.
The problem is not writing etiquette, it is reading etiquette – which is not taught and needs to be – widely! People read their own interpretations- often reflecting their current mood and things going on in life unrelated to what they are reading.
I go by the rule of thumb if something feels negative – take a break and go back later to read again with a fresh look. Try to take personal impression/opinion out and just read words AND look for positive intent. If you still feel it’s negative have somebody else check it before you respond. Get their take on it.
Love this!!!
So very true as a reader of many many emails in a global corporation where English is not necessarily the first language of the writer and cultural nuances can result in unintentionally humorous communications.
I learned to read everything through the lens of positive intent. And – if it OBVIOUSLY wasn’t (as recommended above) step away for as long as needed to ensure the reply was neutral and productive.
As far as greetings – always with Hello and individual’s name.
Closing – as context of e-mail indicated
Thank you for the help or guidance.
Let me know if questions.
Wishing you and those you love peace, health and safety!
ModR – please don’t let anyone get you down regarding your communication style. As others have mentioned your style is quite enjoyable and I believe your intent is always positive and sincere. If someone chooses to be offended that is on them alone and beyond your control.
And – many many squeeees regarding all the Graphic Audio goodies!
Sending peace, health and safety to all!
Oh my!!!
I sign off all my professional emails with Kind regards (unless we’re friends in which case I got with warm regards).
For colleagues, it’s usually: Cheers or maybe a smiley face.
but I’m a French born admin, so…
I hate however when people sign with: Best or BR, that’s very lazy in my opinion.
Therefore I’ll be reading the comments with diligence
Things I did not know as a Norwegian and non native speaker. I am also in academia so we are often overly polite and often intentionally passive aggressive anyway hehe
But I usually sign off with Best or Kind wishes and to some international coworkers Kind regards. Norwegians are really informal so second email is just a dash and my name.
I’m a “Best” signer too! (or kind regards). I just cant see how that is bad. It is definitely not being passive aggressive in my case. I just prefer ‘Best’ and ‘Kind regards’
From the comments, the fact that what’s best is not specified, like we can’t even bother. So too curt? But then “best wishes” is snarky, because there aren’t even fucks left to give, let alone wishes.
I’m now leaning towards “Thanks” for my new sign off. It can be thanking them for their time, even if I’m not asking for anything in the email? Which is usually true, I’m mainly the one responding to requests.
Ever yours, through the minefield
Love it!
Minefield — ha, ha, ha, ha!
I guess this whole blog post has been a bit of a minefield.
Now I can truly end with, “Thank you!”
Toodles!
But how would you sign off with “Thanks” if your email is to say “Thank you?” I send a bunch of emails related to things like “Thanks for handling” “Received with thanks,” etc. That would get weird to me.
Huh. I think I mostly learned that same rules you did, but then again that was in my typing class where we still had some manual typewriters. I expect a lot of us are in the same boat. Texting & chat really changed things. Like other folks have said I mostly use Hi/Hello or Good Morning/Afternoon and end with Thanks. Because that’s simple and I don’t want to think too much about it.
When I write customer service emails, I sign off with, “Should you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to contact me at the information below.” That is followed by my signature block with three different ways to contact me. I still use that as a high school English teacher here in Houston, though originally from San Diego, CA.
For emails to colleagues that aren’t so earnest or urgent, I often sign off with “Thank you kindly!”
We also have the fun issue of an enormous country that has wildly different manners depending on the region. The West Coast area tends towards much more casual interaction as a sign of friendliness – we prefer to use given names, say things like “hey” and “thanks much,” that sort of thing.
Texas and the South prefer a warm formality, where we use surnames, “Hello,” “Sincerely,” and lots of polite small talk.
The East Coast is just as formal, but much more efficient. “Sir” and “Ma’am” are the default, but don’t waste time with chitchat – getting right to the point shows respect for others’ time.
Honestly, the most important tip I can give you is to be authentic. Use the language that feels right to you, be consistent and kind, and don’t sweat the small stuff. You’re a professional, brilliant, and kind person, Rosanna. We’ve gotten to interact with you for years, and never have I read anything you’ve written and thought, /jeez, what’s her deal?/ You’re a constant delight, and we’re lucky to have you caring for our Authorlords.
That’s so incredibly kind and wise, thank you!
Very true with all the regional variation, well said.
About the wasted time, couldn’t agree more! Of course I’m career military so I don’t feel the need to pander to feelings.
Seriously, I don’t have time for anyone’s superfluous inanities. You get a “Name,” as the intro and then a signature block at the end. Thats it.
I especially loathe the quotes before/after the signature block. Like I, a stranger, share your religious/philosophical/humorous beliefs. So vain and presumptuous.
Yes regarding the quotes – very annoying, especially if you correspond regularly.
I agree. That is why where I work have banned quotes from people’s e-mail signature lines. It gets nuts after a while.
I’ll second that!!
What Kat said!
I’m in the USA and I write a LOT of email for work. When the email is supposed to be professional and is going to my peers or one level up and any levels down, I do the following:
Salutation:
Good [morning/afternoon/evening] [Person’s name if there are 3 or fewer, otherwise it’s “All”]
Closure:
Please reach out with any questions.
Regards, Colleen
Example (to my boss):
Good morning, Boss,
I’m meeting with the tech leads this afternoon; I should have the server report to you by OOB tomorrow.
Regards, Colleen
If it’s personal/friends, I’m way more lax, and more creative with the closure.
Salutation:
Hey, [name]!
Closure:
Smile! / Happiness, / All my best and then some! / [adverb] yours,
Example:
Hey Sarah!
I messed up. The party starts at *6pm* not 8pm.
Flappily yours,
Colleen
“Who knew ‘Yours sincerely‘ basically means ‘I want to hit you with a chair‘? I found that out the hard way”
I’m sorry someone wrote or verbally told you that might Mod R.
I am wondering if this is particular to British English? I would never have read it that way having been raised in Canada and spending 5 years in Scotland.
I usually start off with ‘Good morning (or afternoon) X’. If it’s someone I know really well and like :-), it’s usually ‘Hi or Hey’. Sign off is usually just ‘Thanks or Thank you’ depending on the audience.
LOL same eastern block (PL), similar style of language education, similar formality in the culture.
These days I work in a very multi kulti environment, write dozens of e-mails in English every week to people from all over the globe, who all have different levels of formality in their cultures, and different expectations as to how they want to be adressed. My typical structure is “Dear [first name]”, or “Hi [first name]”, sometimes just “Hello” if they are a German and I don’t know if they’re ok with first names. ended by “Best regards”, or “BR”.
I can’t keep up. This stuff changes really fast these days, so if I’m replying, I follow the original writer’s cues to the extent that I’m comfortable. Currently:
If I’m the one making first contact, “Dear ___” or “Good morning ___”or “Hi ___”, very occasionally “Hey ___” depending upon how formal the context or how well I know the person (if I don’t know the name, it’s “Hello” or “Good morning” with no name).
For closing a formal business email, I’ve used “Yours” in the past, with no modifier if I can’t bring myself to feel truly or sincere. More commonly these days, I put in a line thanking them for their efforts/time/attention (one or two of the three) and close with some variation of “Have a great day/week” or “Enjoy the sunshine/weather”.
For personal emails, it might be one of the less formal ones above, or “Hope [all of] you are well and enjoying life”.
But I should point out that I’m a boomer, so probably the last one you should be taking advice from. I had to stop myself from rearranging that sentence to avoid placing a preposition at the end.
Being in Hawaii, I’m allowed to lean into common Hawaiian words. I use Aloha NAME to start and mahalo to end. You can also use aloha to end too if you don’t start with it.
BTW, today is a Hawaii State Holiday celebrating King Kamehameha. There will be lei draping of his statue today and a parade on Saturday.
Very cool!
Similar here in NZ, start with Kia ora, end with Ngā mihi (Thanks) or similar. Interestingly when using a Māori salutation I always put my first name in full rather than just my initial as I do in English – I think it’s a cultural thing. The most toxic person I worked with, and the most passive/aggressive both used “warm regards”. I cringe when I see it now :/
Maui here. I thought, I can’t really contribute because we are so lucky! Aloha and Mahalo … easy breezy.
I usually start with Hello and end with some form of thanks for actually reading my email. The standard English instruction of the seventies was Dear sir or madam, and ended with sincerely or yours truly, depending on the level of personal familiarity.
Those are now all relics of letter writing. Here and now in the 21st century I try to use wording that won’t be confused by Google translate.
I had never given this that much thought. I correspond with students through the school blackboard program about their work, and I open with Hi/Hello X. My closing is Have a good day/morning (time dependent), or Take care. I guess all of it is a little patronising or passive aggressive. Any suggestions?
Oh geeezzz. This native English speaking Gen x’er didn’t know this. In my corporate sphere we use all variations of “regards” & I’ve been seeing “Best” also. Now I’m wondering what subtext I’ve been missing!!! Oh well. I guess I’ll be comment diving also.
Mine goes like this:
Sup baby girl, (no matter the gender I’m emailing – they are all baby girl)
Email email email
Yours truly,
My name
As someone who struggles with tone, I just write what probably wont get me fired. 😀
My sweet boss signs all his emails with “Every good wish,” but he is a genuinely good human and actually means it.
I usually sign mine with some generic for higher level folks who are paid more than me or something a little more casual/fun for other folks:
“Kind regards,” or “Best regards,”
“Thank you,” or “Many thanks,”
or sometimes “Blessings,” (religious institution – although this one feels a bit passive aggressive)
More casual sign offs:
“Have an excellent Wednesday/terrific Tuesday/etc!”
“Slay your Monday!”
“All the best,”
“Thanks!”
“Yours from the trenches,”
“Yours from the stacks,” (for librarian colleagues)
If I know the recipient well then I’ll use a more fun or preppy sign-off, because why not?
“In inventory purgatory,”
“From hell,”
“Best of luck managing the American experience,”
Gotta enjoy life where we can, you know!
“Slay your Monday!” and “Yours from the trenches,”
I love those soooo much! Stealing for my emails!
Eh. I think the definitions of different sign-offs as passive aggressive is just an internet trend. I operate in a professional space and am a writer and find people are still using things like “Best regards” or “Sincerely” and so on. I use “Regards” because other forms bother me. However, I am autistic and adhd so I guess you should take this with a grain of salt. I just cannot bring myself to say Best Regards for some reason, lol.
Same – it’s Best wishes or Kind regards, and never the twain shall meet 😉
Useful, thank you
Don’t take that too seriously though, it’s just my pet peeve, not an actual rule!
I’d say (snarkily) to sign off with “May you live in interesting times” but perhaps I shouldn’t put that curse out there, I don’t need any more interesting times either!
From an exhausted Millennial with 234 “once-in-a-lifetime” events under her belt, that is truly a fear-inducing wish 😀
For any emails semi-professional and above, I just start with “Hi ” and end with “Thanks” or “Thank you” and then my name.
My passive aggressive way of ending a professional email is to have no signoff but just my name 😀
I’ve always felt that “Yours sincerely” was a little too formal, but I’ve never seen someone end an email with “Best Wishes” or “Regards” and thought they were doing the Southern version of “bless your heart.”
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Well, I’m a 66-year-old who has never thought too much about e-mail etiquette…I hope I’m not accidentally insulting anyone! 😳
I usually start my emails with “Hi [name of someone I know well]” or “Good morning/afternoon/evening [name of someone I don’t know very well]”.
And in all cases, I usually end my emails with a thank-you (if I have requested something), and then always a “have a great day/week.” (I figure everyone could use well wishes, but maybe that’s just annoying? I hope not!)
It’s hard, trying to figure out whether someone is being kind, angry, sarcastic, extra nice, etc. over email! 🤔
For greetings I will use the person’s name and if they have a title such as professor I will use that as well. I will also use Good (insert time of day here).
To sign off I will normally use Thanks or Thank you
my family is from England on both sides and we’ve been in new england since the early 1700s. I haven’t a clue how to help you, I struggle with emails as well. Never mind the greeting, my emails all look grumpy. if you want to see English shenanigans and word play, check out Very British Problems page on facebook. they have fantastic threads on this very thing, plus a host of other topics
Im a grad student for take this with a grain of salt, but I typically sign off emails with best or thanks, depending on if I’m asking someone for something. I also sometimes just write my name alone. I have a collaborator in the uk who uses cheers! to sign off his email and I’ve never taken offense to that. Good luck mod R!
I typically don’t use a salutation, just start the email. Have also just put the persons name with a colon.
Signing off have used “Cheers” for years and notice that others in my office have adopted that. If it is a first time email for me I will sign off with “Thank you”.
Also v.v.v.v.v.v. happy about GA announcement – did the pre-order right away!
😀 Another perfect display of cultural difference. Early in our relationship, I almost broke up with Mr Mod R for sending me a message with no greeting.
I was like “No. Request denied. Go back to your mother and learn manners, then come speak to me.” Who does he think he is 😀 , no hello, how are you? No bless yous for Giacomo.?
He’s never known peace since we’ve met, poor man lol
If it’s informal, I greet them how I would if I was talking to them in person. If a professional email, I’d start with Hi, Hello, or Good Morning/Afternoon, depending on the tone I want to convey. If informal, my closing greeting is usually Thanks/Thank you or just my name, depending on who it is. If a professional email, I usually just put down “Regards.”
At my work we have a regards sub-culture.
Warmest regards : you’re not just my co worker but I know you, and I really want you to do this thing
Warm regards: neutral, it’s all good, here’s that info
Kind regards: used when aggravated and most likely includes something like “I’ve looped in so and so for awareness”
Among ourselves we joke about being really honest like “tepid regards” etc but we are a group that avoids conflict at all costs.
I am Gen X so most of my “regards” can be read with a certain flavor or sarcasm. 😎
Hey,
And
Thanks,
I always say:
Dear so and so,
Sincerely,
Alex
I studied Japanese in university, and we had a whole section on writing letters. There’s definitely a very proper way to write emails and letters in Japan. I filched a bit I liked from it, and now use it in all my emails.
It’s called commenting on the seasons. I really enjoy it, it gives a little spark to every email. Maybe it’s because I’m English, and work in a UK based company, but it really calls to the part of me destined to always talk about the weather.
[greeting of appropriate nature], [name]
I hope you’ve been enjoying a lovely spring / I trust this email finds you well and thriving in this gorgeous summer sunshine / Hope you’ve been keeping wrapped up and enjoying this cozy weather we’ve been having
OR you can stick it in the end,
Hope you enjoy a sunny weekend ahead / have a lovely time in this glorious spring weather / wrap up warm for the cold front headed your way
I cant get away with being nice and poetic like the Japanese, but I can toe the line.
Love this! Thank you for sharing. Might adopt.
That is so beautiful! Thank you!
I sympathise. Formally, the complimentary close for Dear Sir or Madam is ‘yours faithfully’, ‘yours sincerely’ is for Dear Mr.Mrs/Ms title of your choice. These were quite informal compared with ‘I am, sir, your obedient servant’, which I found on some old files when I joined the Civil Service in the 1960s. Here is Ireland, after independence we opted for a Gaelic address and close, ‘A Chara’, literally ‘O, Friend’, using the vocative case to address someone, and ‘is mise, le meas’, I am, with respect’ or ‘I remain, respectfully’.
Writing novels set during the Regency, I can be as elaborate as I like and enjoy tweaking this to mark an increase in intimacy, but personally in emails I go for the shortest possible close. honi soit qui mal au pense
I’m a native English speaker and cannot keep up with email etiquette like that either. I actually don’t even use anything to sign off other than my email signature. I’m not even sure how much of that actually matters anymore. So many people I email message me back without even saying hello. They just type their message and then I see a little blurb of “sent from my iPhone”.
I think it depends on the context, but polite yet upbeat never seems to cause a problem.
My default is “thank you and have a wonderful day!” and no one has expressed distaste (openly) that I’m aware of to date.
Oh, no. The babies can set their own rules for when they communicate with each other, but when they’re talking to older generations, in work settings, they do not get to set the rules for speaking to us. That’s like me, an English-speaker, telling a native Dutch-speaker how to speak Dutch. Nope.
They can get over it.
Same with texting. I’ve been doing it their entire lives, so I am not giving them the power to tell me I’m doing it wrong. They can clutch all the pearls they want about my complete sentences and ending punctuation.
(I’m a college professor who teaches business writing, if that wasn’t already apparent. 🤭)
Haha! Love your take on this. I might share it with the 20-somethings at my workplace. They all thought I was rude and stand-offish for the longest time until I bought a round of drinks and explained. Now they say I’m “old-fashioned” ::gasp!::
Dear Carrie,
Thank you for this. I feel as if you are one of my people! I have rarely, in a grammatical sense, felt so understood. “Clutch their pearls..” HA! I actually laughed aloud.
Thank you for your ongoing efforts,
Kim
Hear, hear! Brava! Full sentences and actual punctuation are balm to my weary heart.
Thank you for this.
Judith, a former English teacher
I like how you have expressed how I feel. I learned “proper” letter writing while learning operation of a manual typewriter. Things are more casual today, but I cannot undo habits of a lifetime to conform to a new generation’s intolerance of older models. Until this discussion I had no idea people were taking offence at what I see as politeness.
I see this vary by age at work, the younger folks are being much more creative lately. I always go with
Hi name,
…
Thanks,
when I email the veterinarian about dog drug refills, appointments, concerns, etc., I say “Hail Pet Warriors!” For everyone else, I’m 66 years old and in the same grammatical boat as you are. I’ll await the younger generation answers with anticipation.
I’m a millennial who doesn’t have time for this shit. People will get an email sign off of best, thanks (with a millennial exclamation mark because I can’t not), or sincerely then my info. Gen Z can have the extra, I don’t have the brain energy to overthink how a regular sign off could potentially read as rude anymore.
My favourite closing is “thank you kindly”. It’s middle-of-the-road polite/formal. A few people may assume you hail from the southern United States though.
As far as openers I use the KIS method (keep it simple):
1. Hello {Name}
2. Good {Morning / Afternoon / Evening}
Note I am an executive assistant and write both my work and personal email sin the same matter. So while not “cool”, will avoid misunderstandings or hurt feelings.
Grr grammatical errors, dictation was not my friend today. Should read:
Note: I am an executive assistant and write both my work and personal emails in the same manner. So while not “cool”, will avoid misunderstandings or hurt feelings.
This is how we do it at our municipality.
Good Morning/Afternoon (comma if I need to come off more professional, exclamation point if I know you or I need to soften the blow.)
For our sign off, we still use Regards. Or, Thank you/ have a great week or weekend/appreciate your help.
“Regards” is neutral for us. But oh no, if there’s a Kind Regards, it’s the passive aggressive equivalent of Go F*** Yourself/Die in a Fire/Punch Yourself in the Face.
Non English here, I always start with the time of the day has a greating, like good morning, if to someone informal I add the person name,
Like: Good morning, Mood R!
And just jump on the subject.
I usually end with “atentamente”that can translate to attentively, that is an informal and basic greating.
Corporate Speak
To an unknown person: Hello
To an unknown Group: Greetings!
To a known person : Hi
To a known Group of peers: Hey Guys, Happy
To a known group of Execs: Hello All
Otherwise it is a quick DM via Teams.
Non-Corp: Hey
Or just a quick text
I hate talking on the phone, stupid small talk BS. I also hate Voice Mail. 25+ years ago I started telling people that the indicator on the phone meant it was broken.
Often times I use my email as a sort of To Do list. Once that task is done I file it away…. Have you seen the HR cartoon on Netflix? I swear the Eastern Island head is me. Lololol
I keep it simple with a sincerely then my name. I’m in my 30s and mostly polite too.
Enjoy!
I’ve actually been reading a book about this (for work reasons), because I was also raised to be polite when writing, but there’s a level of formality that can read as very distancing that I wanted to avoid.
It’s called “Digital Body Language” and I’ve found it really interesting so far:
https://www.amazon.com/Digital-Body-Language-Connection-Distance/dp/1250246520
Oooh, starting this immediately!
I’ve been recommending Because Internet: Understanding the New Rules of Language ever since I read it, it’s seminal work, even if it’s getting long in the tooth now https://gretchenmcculloch.com/book/
Thank you for reminding me about “Because Internet”! That’s been on my TBR List forever, I keep forgetting to read it!
It *does* look awesome—and I definitely need to learn how to write a bit more casually. (Discord is especially challenging for this reason.)
I’m a millennial too, and I grew up in CA so you’d think I could do casual better, but I’m just a bit more formal. Probably all the years in Catholic school.
I often sign off with Cheers or Take care…openings depend on who and why I am emailing.
I feel all this in my soul because I def read too much into the way people write emails. Don’t get me started on people who end a sentence with an ellipsis.
If my audience is broad I usually go with “Good Morning/Afternoon Everyone” (It’s gender neutral and I say it in the voice of the professor from Futurama as I type) or just a hey/hi.
If I have a formal relationship you get “Thank you” and then my name/signature. If you are closer then you get a “Thanks, Erica”
I am boring but at least I’m not mean, which as an auditor is the goal.
I always start with Hello (person) and end with Thank you! whether it makes sense or not. I try to keep it simple and polite.
Then again I deal with a lot of churches and pastors, so hopefully there is a little grace if I’m ticking them off unintentionally (haha)
Thank You! 😉
When I have to reach out to people at work via e-mail, I usually say “Good morning. For my e-mail ending, I will say “If you have any questions, please let me know.” Then “Thanks , Marsha”.
As a native English speaker I never knew a greeting and signing off were so very important for nonnative speakers. Going overseas let me understand the protocol of greetings and closures were so very important.
My default sign off is
Thanks!
Regardless of the actual contents of the email. Thats If I bother to sign it at all
I mean, I’m gen x and we generally skip the passive in passive aggressive.
that being said, i worked for a large British company for years. my emails to anyone that i had not yet communicated with started with “dear m. *last name*” and ended with “warm regards, Ericka”
my current company is American and more casual, and I go with “hello.” I include first name if I’ve talked to them before and “team” if it’s going to more than one person. I close with “warm regards, Ericka” unless I hate them, in which case it’s “regards, Ericka.” after the first email, I usually sign off with “WR, EJS”
the idea that I’m being hostile or passive aggressive actually makes me laugh. your feelings about my emails are a you problem. 😀
“your feelings about my emails are a you problem.”
Repeating for emphasis!
I just say hello, or good morning etc.
I don’t use platitudes in the body of the email. I just communicate what I need to say and then end with my email signature with my name and office information. seems safer.
I send a lot of work emails. For internal emails:
Hi First name,
Work thing here e.g. Reaching out regarding z thing. Would it be possible for you to do x by y?
Best,
Ellabean
For a group of people:
Good morning, Mostseniorleader, secondmostsenior, thirdmost,
Work thing.
Best,
Ellabean
For external emails:
Hi Firstname,
Hope you are doing well!
Actual reason why I am reaching out and my request/action item.
Warmly,
Ellabean
If I don’t want to sign warmly, then I’ll use All my best
And if it’s personal–
Hi Firstname,
close friends:
xoxo,
E
family:
Love,
E
Spouse,
Love you!
My normal way of emailing is Dear X (formal/people I don’t know or don’t email regularly) or, Hi X (people I know/regularly email/ further down the email chain after the first dear X email). Sign off is usually Kind Regards (meant as a neutral sign off!), Thanks (informal and I’ve asked them to do something), Thanks in advance (passive aggressive, I need them to do something that is their job to do but they have a tendency not to do it, or not to do it in good time), or Cheers (I know them well and they’ve done something I appreciate).
My last 15 years in a casual, close-knit, stable group of co-workers led to a serious degradation of formality. So “Hi ___” at best, or just the name of the person being addressed, or nothing at all for an opening. “Thanks” or sometimes nothing at all for a closing. And yet we all somehow got along with each other, mostly.
In a culture where two positives can make a negative (“yeah, right”), sometimes the only winning move is not to play.
“Sometimes, the only winning move is not to play.” – “Joshua” the computer program, from “War Games” (1983)
I was trained first as a journalist then as a tech writer. Currently I work in a military setting manning a help desk, so I get a lot of questions and Help! type emails.
Depending on mood or rush, I will frequently respond to the query with no salutation and just get to the helpful parts. When I do use a salutation it’s just Title and Last name, i.e. SPC Jones, or Col Smith,
A common ending in military circles is Very Respectfully, which is often shortened to V/R.
In personal email I have used “Your servant,” or “Yours,” I probably picked that up from the musical 1776 because that’s how G. Washington signs all the letters read to the Continental Congress.
Hello!
{Insert request, email body content here}
Thanks,
Sign Off
Replies in an email thread on the same day do not have opening or closing salutations, but follow up emails the next day or longer absolutely do. Then it would be, Hello Again, or Hello Name, etc.
Since I work at a small, private university I have to email professors, deans, students and prospective students daily. How I address them will depend on how well I know them. A lot of professors I use their first names while others are always “Dr.” or “Prof.”. Students I typically address by their first name but that’s because we are trying to portray ourselves as a friendly, small (i.e. not a giant) university.
For a lot of my emails I will start with something like “I hope your ____ is going well.” But there are times that I dive straight into the purpose of the email if I know the person and I just need a quick reply back.
For closing I frequently use “Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns. I’ll be glad to help.”
Truthfully, for my personal emails a lot of the above gets left out and I just go with what I am needing. I hope if they know me that well they will understand I’m just trying to get info from them and we will talk more in depth another time.
We send a lot of copies of documents or forms to clients. Lots of times they don’t bother to look that they already have it. It is quicker to just ask me. If I am really getting ticked at them not even trying, I forward the old email with the doc and say “Here it is again” I know that is deliberately rude.
Well, I’m old, so I learned correspondence etiquette when dinosaurs still roamed the earth, and “correspondence” meant a letter written on paper (with a pen, never a pencil!) and sent via the post office.
These days, I start emails with either “Hi “, or “Hello ” depending on how well I know the person. I end them with “Thank you, ”
Is it correct? Damned if I know. But no one has complained yet!
Thank you, Mod R, for all you do for the BDH!
Always:
Formal. Dear Mod R,
Sincerely yours,
Valerie
Informal. Hi Mod R,
Sincerely,
Valerie
Good friends. Hiya Mod R! Or Hi Mod R,
Talk to you soon, or Have a great day,
Valerie
I was also taught to be very formal unless they were close friends of the family. PARTICULARLY older generations. We never called adults by their first names. I still don’t unless I am asked to, or they have become close friends.
I have Japanese members of my family (related by marriage) and I always bow to the elders. When greeting them or leaving their presence. Not many remain, but if you live to 102 years, you deserve the respect and formality.😊
I can’t wait. Maybe my favorite series of all times!
It kind of depends if it’s an email or letter. For emails, I resort to “Best -” (best what? who knows?) when generically signing off work emails. If I’m trying to insert a little personality or make them like me, I’ll sign off “Warmly,” which my assistant does and I liked so have adopted.
For professional letters, I’ll always sign off “Sincerely,” as I think that’s a little more formal (although still, Sincerely what?) It used to be “Sincerely yours,” but now 99.9% of folks would find that weird. (Obvs. I’m not theirs. Why would I say that?). So, I remain, sincere, in ambiguity.
As a software developer, I have a “not capable of social interactions” standard to uphold. People can be happy if I even replied to an email. It’s one of my most favorite things about my job <3 It's a very useful stereotype to uphold!
Sadly, my boss is also a friend of mine, and know that it's somewhat BS in my case. Hence I spend 20% of my time dealing with clients and business analysts instead of important things like when to use dependency injection properly, or trying not to strangle a coworker who can't seem to get it through his thick head that no, I will not pass a peer review that contains potential sql injection vulnerabilities. Parameterize your damn queries.
I think that can be my new email sign off.
"Parameterize your damn queries! (yes Dave, I mean you)"
There’s also the question of whether you start an introduction with a dash, comma, or colon. I’ll usually start emails with a dash (“Dear ModR – “) or (“ModR -“) depending on how informal I’m feeling. Letters get a colon or comma. My rule fo thumb there is that if it’s a business letter, I’ll typically use a colon (“Dear ModR:”). If it’s a personal letter, I’ll use a comma (“Dear ModR,”)
Sometimes, if I’m sending a letter to a government office, I’ll do the Dear Sir/Madam thing or just leave it off and dive into the text of my letter after the “Regarding” line.
Sorry Mod R, I was raised in England with the same text book – I think it originated with Pitman’s for those of us old enough to have a typing qualification.
Dear and Yours sincerely or Dear Sirs and Yours faithfully were the standard.
As with most English use of English you can read more than is stated. The most feared opener is always ‘I’m sorry …..’ there is a silent ‘you are a moron’ hidden between that phrase and the rest of the sentence.
Pick your industry norm and stick with it (my public sector one is Kind Regards), the optional hand signals don’t have to travel over the internet. 😀
Umm, I’m Gen X (end of, so also Xennial) and I still use “Sincerely” signing of on my work related emails.
I don’t care what Gen Z thinks it means. 😉
I’ve loosened up a bit for the start of a new email. I’ll skip the “Dear Sir/Madam” at the start of a work email (Greetings). I’ll use the recipient’s name instead to start the email. (Mabe a “Hi X” if it’s someone I’ve corresponded with before.) And on replies, I take my cue from their replies on if I keep using their name as a Greeting, or just skip a greeting and go directly into my reply.
At my company, it’s generally Hi X or Dear X depending on the power gap or if they are Japanese (where the company is based). Tough to expect everyone in a multinational company to keep up with American Gen Z norms so we go plain.
Sign offs are still Regards in its various forms. I go with my gut on anything other than plain Regards – as in “are they mad at me”, “am I mad at them”, are we both mad at someone else”….
For real life, pretty much the same for me. I’m basic as they come.
Greetings!
for people you don’t hate. For customer service, “To whom it may concern,”.
If your email was sincere, you can close with “Sincerely,” and if that person owns you (as in a close parent or spouse) “Sincerely yours,”
Sincerely,
Jim K.
Don’t ask me, Austria is still using Kind Regards. At least on professional emails. For personal ones, I often don’t sign off at all. I had no idea this was passive aggressive, although as a culture I guess it makes sense. Is it passive aggressive when everyone is using it?
I work in accounting, so I can get away with being formal in emails and chat. So I usually just start with “Good morning / afternoon [name]” or just “Hi [name]” after frequent communication, and end with “Regards” or use “Thanks” if I made a request in the email.
Also, not recommending that you use these regularly, but I found this list hilarious: https://www.buzzfeed.com/meganeliscomb/funny-email-sign-offs. I may have to start using #38 with certain people.
Hey! Kiri from Maine—a people nearly as stoic and mistrustful as Soviets of ancient days—we’re also direct and give no ducks most of the time. We spend a lot of home in the Great Outdoors and don’t hold a lotta truck with fads, trends, city people, or high heels. So when I say I’ve always done fine in email with Hello/Dear/To Whom it May Concern, and end with Thanks, Sincerely, or take care, take it as a possibly regional thing. Oh, I might use Salutations if I wanna get Charlotte’s Web fancy. Likely this doesn’t help, but hopefully wins a couple points for funny. 😂🤣
I’m a bit old fashioned, so these won’t be the most up to date:
Opening:
“Hi-” or “Mr-“/”Ms-“/”Mx-”
Closing:
“With appreciation”
“Thanks” or
“Yours”
hello, good morning/afternoon & thank you or thanks
The only emails I write anymore are for work & I try to keep it simple.
Well, I am American English which is different from UK English. I’m 67 years old and I tend to be blunt. So, before I retired, if I had to email a request a second time, you did read me “per my previous email” or, my personal favorite “per our conversation” I, usually started the email with your first name if I knew you or Mr. Ms. So and So if I didn’t. My emails tended to end with, “Thanking you in advance,” or just “Sincerely” and my name. I’m probably not the one you want to take direction from! Good Luck!
What?! I just learned something new about email sign offs. Never knew there were hidden meanings. Or that there was such a generational difference.
Probably because I work a government job, I can still be pretty formal. I’m a millennial but I started this career working alongside a lot of boomers. A lot of my mentors/coworkers have retired or are close to retirement. I normally sign off work emails with “thanks.” For external work correspondence, I tend to use “regards” or “sincerely.” Now I’m wondering how I come across to the newbies I train….0_0
I do technical support for engineers. We’re a pretty straightforward bunch, and consistency is important. I start emails with “Hello [name],” or if I know the person “Hi [name],”. I end every email with “Best Regards”. No matter what I put in the body of the email, my start and end are always the same. Consistency to prove how professional I am. lol
Hm. My greetings and sign offs are:
Hello, Hi, greetings, (nothing)
Nice to meet you, thank you, thanks, warmly, best wishes, cheers, see you soon
When signing off I will often try to make it something topical: have a good weekend, the sunshine is lovely, have a good trip, etc.
I use “sincerely” or “yours truly” when submitting complaints.
I’m a little chameleon and change what I use in response to how people address me in their emails. Different generations and fields do it differently.
important to note that it’s different in various English speaking countries!
while living in NZ, I fell into the kiwi habit of signing most things “Cheers”. Now back in the states and my professional emails are almost always signed “Thanks”. both are acceptable
I’m not cool. I recently still used kind regards, side eye be damned and anyone can interpret that how they will. but I’m Maori and living in NZ and a few years back realized I can just use ngā mihi and avoid any regards kind of otherwise issues. good luck! go over the top and change to sincerely, bring back the classic.
Personally, I like:
“No trees were killed to send this message, but a large number of electrons were terribly inconvenienced.”
I work for a law firm, when a letter signs off it’s usually “yours very truly” or just “sincerely”. If I’m doing an email I usually just do “Thank you,” or “Thanks in advance,”. I sincerely hate trying to figure out which would be more professional.
I am in the IT, I find I don’t have time for “Good morning” or other pleasantries. I also generally don’t care to start conversations, I just wanna get to the nuts and bolts of what I am emailing about… but if I gotta keep it more professional, I use Good morning/afternoon to start and end with either thank you
My first British boss sent me emails that ended with “Ta.” Took me a couple of years to learn ghat was short for “Thanks” rather than half of “ta-ta.”
Good night and good luck? And that’s the way it is? Hey, it worked for Murrow and Cronkite! Peace. ✌️ Seriously I gave up on sign-offs awhile ago, which kinda turns emails into texts 😊
I thought lol was lots of love. Who knew. Lots of laughs.
What? I shouldn’t sincerely someone. I was raised in the United States. I am so behind the times.
lol means laugh out loud. Just for your information. I am not always very in the loop for text speak either.
Try being 81 years old and keeping up with e-mail trends and interpretations of texting rules🫣🤪
I sign in with hi usually followed by their name but not always. I sign off with thanks.
I used to sign off with cheers but it seemed a bit too informal for work in the last decade lol.
I work at a major financial firm in NYC I both send and receive to / from clients
Best / Best Regards / Kind Regards most often. Legal signs their letters Sincerely
Sign in is Hi or Hello. If writing a cold letter to corporate it is Dear Sir / Madam or Dear Client Services Team etc
Yours truly is never used anymore
For personal comms it depends on the person but Love, Lubbins, Ciao, Cheers or just my name
If others choose to assign a hateful meaning to a benign term that is up to them. They will have to get over it or not write me anymore. Life is too short to deal and spend time worrying about such nonsense. Do what feels right to you 🙂
Can’t go wrong with ending an email with “solidarity,” or “thank you.”
Not help from me here, I also have english as my second language and learn it from reading mostly.
I always found your written word flawless.
It may escape me the second layer of meaning also.
But since this is not a formal email I can say:
kisses hugs and love to you and yours!
Similar to many other non-native speakers i find the whole passive aggressive language which is heavily used in the UK very confusing.
I work with many different nationalities. My italian colleagues use Ciao on both ends of the email. Simple but effective. My UK colleague uses Hi Lea and Cheers. A US coleague closes with Thanks, (even if there was nothing to thank for which i found confusing).
I like to use (whatever kind of) regards. I don’t ever mean it as passive agressive.
What i also like doing is looking what the person sending me the email used and using that “back”. Easy and least offensive in my mind.
If they are like me they are thanking you for taking the time to read the email. It might also be a passive hope for a reply.
If it is a friendly colleague, I usually start with Hey (insert name here), and dive right in. I usually end work emails with Thanks, and my professional sign off. If it’s a friend, they may just get my info with no introduction and just my name at the end. For people I don’t know well, it’s Hello Mr./Mrs./Dr., then I identify myself and state my business.
Thanks for the great news!
Must be a British thing, ModR. As far as I know, all of the above that you learned are still in professional use at least. I’ve only been retired two years, so I doubt things have changed that dramatically in the business world. I would get a little more personal with people I’ve worked closely with, of course, but still kept it professional.
On a personal basis, I tailor my salutations and endings to the receiver. Hey how ya doing or a variation there of to begin and bye now, ta, see ya, later, luv ya etc. to end. I would never think to use unhingedly yours, but that sure made me laugh. Might try it 🤣
If it is work related and involves someone higher “up the chain” (this always makes me snicker) or someone I don’t know well, I go with Good Morning or Good Afternoon and close with either Thank you or nothing and my signature line/virtual business card.
If it’s still work but more casual, I’ll go with “Hi Nancy” or just “Hi”. My biggest pet peeve is a group email that requires action but is not addressed to any one specific person. It makes me crazy & I’ve been known to snark at the sender. Like who would you like to answer that, Steve? Me? Nancy?Or the universe?
Lawyer here and an old one at that. When I started emailing for work, it had all the formality of a snailmail letter. Now the convention in my legal circles is to start with Hi and end with regards or best. None of the connotations that you mentioned are prevalent in my sphere and we have all ages and gens sending emails.
I always sign off ‘Thank you, and have a nice day,’ but I am also out of the loop on whether that’s secretly passive-aggressive or not. No one at work has side-eyed me about it so 🤷🏻♀️
I’m a project manager in tech and send work emails all day.
My greeting is Hi or Hello
My signoff is Thanks! or Thank you when asking for something. Otherwise, it’s Best which I like because sounds like “have the day you deserve” in my mind 🤣
I had the misfortune once to be accused of implying foul language in a note to a work colleague. My accuser acknowledged that I had not written any such words but because she heard it in her head, I was to be punished for it. I’m 41, of sound mind, and I use sincerely, yours truly, regards, best wishes, thanks, or whatever else seems appropriate. If it offends someone, that’s a them problem. There’s no possible way to make everyone happy.
If I’m initiating the email I open with hello or Good ____. I close with Thank you or if I know them well Thanks. If I’m responding I open the same way and close with hope this helps, please let me know if you need anything further, etc.
I use AI now to help me write emails. Sometimes, I chat with AI and try things like “that’s good but it should really be happier and more up beat” or give me 5 ways to describe [topic]. I find that if I have to brainstorm quickly then chatting with AI for a minute or two gets ideas flowing. Sometimes the suggestions are amazing and other times not so great. I would not use it for anything important or private but it’s pretty good at helping to phrase internal or office communications. I have not worked with anyone from Gen Z who wrote the way you described, but I work in academia and the communication tends toward adopting formalities. We do see some funny “out of office” emails though.
The most likely to not piss someone off sign off is “with gratitude. ” It helps if there is a moment of sincere thankfulness in the preceeding email. If I’m frustrated or apologetic, I’ll use, “with regret.”
Start it with Hello XX,
End it with Thank you, my name, my contact information
Never put into anything in writing for a business email that you would be embarrassed to read out in court.
Ain’t that the truth!
Actually, I take that further: never put anything into a business email or text or a social media post of any kind that you would be embarassed to have dug up and either read out in court or publicized.
For me at work is just Hello, Hi, or Hey (if there is banter between us) and they all end with Thank you or Thank you in advance.
a study was done that concluded “thanks” and variations of is the sign off most likely to get you a response
for openings, it depends on who I’m talking to. “hey” for a more casual, I -have-a-quick-question. “Hi” when I’m in some grey area. “hello” when I’m introducing myself for the first time
most of my emails are to more than one person, so “Team” is a go-to as well
Formal:
Dear (person to whom I am sending the email)
Body of email
Thank you for your assistance,
Sincerely,
Informal/family:
Hey there!
Body of email
Love or love ya!!
I guess I’m a philistine, because politeness is important, but I don’t really care about someone else’s interpretation problems.
If you’re in England, just say “cheers”. I’ve always smiled when I got that from colleagues across the pond.
I’m an American engineer. I sned lots of emails. Mileage may very.
I start with Hello [Name tripled checked for proper spelling]. if they are on my favorite people ever list they might get a “Hiya”. If I’m responding it might be a “thanks, [name]” or “you’re right, [name]”.
I’m a fan of “Cheers” for a sign off. over here, it’s quite removed from a drinking toast and is just kind of a “I don’t need anything from you but I’m around for follow up.” to me, it’s a bit less final than a “Best” (which to me has an “i-m leaving now” tone). I do use “Regards” occasionally for more formal emails. “happy friday” and “enjoy your weekend” show up as well. I use “thanks” if I need something.
Use what you feel comfortable with. If others don’t like that or misinterpret it, it is their problem, not yours.
What you start/end with will be culturally/age dependent and you won’t be able to please everyone.
Hi X,
Warmly,
Bec
Is how I usually start/sign off email for work. “Cheers” or “Thanks” also get a run depending on the email content.
I’m in Australia if that makes a difference.
For me, it depends on who I’m writing and what I want. You’re almost always safe with the time of day—
Good morning Kate (as an aside, I’m still stuck on whether or not morning should be capitalized). Good afternoon/evening also works, or you can borrow from the Aussies and just “Good Day” everybody, though they might run theirs together like “Gdday”. Don’t quote me.
I stick away from (that looks weird written out) sirring or ma’amming people these days. Unless they have their pronouns listed, it’s best to just use their name.
And if you’re writing to someone but you don’t exactly know who, there’s always the old standby of “To Whom It May Concern”. That or the basic good whatever without a name attached.
In closing, I always write something like “Thank You” or “Regards”.
If I’m really laying it on thick, I hit ’em with the “Kindest Regards”. It’s like a warm word hug but without the actual touching. It’s nice.
That said, I’m a Millennial, so grain of salt with literally everything I just said. I send emails all day though, and I have yet to hear any complaints.
Oh no, I’ve been mailing my kid’s teachers this whole quarter since we moved to the States, opening with “Dear ….” and ending with “Kind regards, ” how badly have I been swearing at those lovely people?!
Honestly, it’s overblown.
I attach no specific meaning to “regards”, warm or otherwise. “Sincerely” is a tad old-fashioned, but not Office Space levels of passive aggressive.
A good sign off is a simple “Thanks!” (if you asked for something/reminded someone that they need to do something). “Take care” (or “Have a good/great afternoon/day/weekend”, “happy [holiday]”, “looking forward to working with you on this”, etc.
After a certain point, if someone continuously reads snark into your sign offs even though you’re otherwise courteous, that’s on them.
But what do I know? I regularly “per our last conversation/my last email/your request” my boss all the time. She’s a nightmare of an insecurely incompetent micromanager and if I didn’t remind her that she told me to do X instead of Y, she’d blame me for having done it. (She blames me for having done X instead of Z anyway- usually a few months after she says ‘good job on X, but why did you do that instead of Y?’) If I didn’t use formality, I’d use profanity out of sheer rage.
For the longest time I used “Greetings and Salutations!” and when managing a store I would occasionally greet customers with that too… I apparently had sent an email to someone and greeted them that way and they were like “ohhhh that’s how you REALLY talk isn’t it?!” and I chose to take that as an amused compliment.
I have occasionally signed off with “Godspeed” though that’s not always taken well.
Someone I know signs off with “at your service,” but they are most assuredly not that so I read it with snark. :/
I start off with aloha and I end with just my name. I’ve been sending email for 30 years and I don’t follow trends.
PS: I hate “best” all by itself as best is an adjective and it needs a noun. Best what?! You might as well just end an email with “very.“
I love your writing Mod R! I’m Customer Success in IT for “lots” of years now and emails are essential in my line of work. For work emails, it’s Hello, Hi, Good Morning/Evening… depending on the recipient. My sign off is always “Thanks”, then my name. The only time I really change that is if I’m sending a more formal email, or if I’m flexing to highlight my title. Then it’s “Sincerely”. 🙂 Personal emails are usually just to family so I sign off with “Love” mostly, and “Thanks” for all the rest. Also, in personal emails I tend to type like I talk. When my wording is concise or direct that means you’ve probably gotten me mad so I censor my word usage. (& I agree with the comments above that state walk away when you are upset and rewrite when you aren’t emotionally charged before sending!) Thank you for the update on GA! As a proud horde member I’ll try really hard to be patient. Hah!
My email brain is wired for business writing so I’m sure some would take offense. I tend to take a formal tone for clarity. Luckily I do not email friends often. That is why I have FB and texting
Oh, wow; oh wow; oh WOW!!! A twenty-something co-worker at a recent job repeatedly went off on me at 99 decibels, accusing me of being “passive aggressive” on the phone or otherwise interacting with customers. I thought he needed better meds. Now I’m asking myself, “Did he have a point???” Or, maybe, “a POINT???”
Who went and changed the whole language while I wasn’t looking?????
No, he didn’t have a point. If you were addressing customers in a professionally polite manner and tone of voice on the phone, you were doing your job.
If a customer complains to you that you are being “passive aggressive”, then you address that. Otherwise, it is not a problem and your younger colleague (who is or was not your supervisor if I read this correctly) should mind his own work and not try to do yours.
Frankly, for every young customer who might think your tone was “passive aggressive”, there would probably be ten older ones who would have considered your co-worker was being an overly familiar little snot…
I’ve been starting with “Hi xxxx, I hope you are well. Blah blah blah” if its a client I haven’t communicated with in a while. Today an acquaintance ranted on Facebook about how they hate “I hope this email find you well” because “Its lazy” and only AIs write that. I was quite chagrined, since I’ve been doing it for years. And I never use AI for writing communications. I also most often text in complete sentences with punctuation. I have also been told by my teens that using periods conveys anger. But I refuse to stop using punctuation – they can figure it out.
“Using periods conveys anger” … Who knew?
I always thought a period was a punctuation mark intended to show where one complete sentence ended and another began. Its purpose was to improve communication by breaking up endless “walls of text” into coherent thoughts for ease of reading.
But it actually conveys anger?
I suppose this is what happens when people try to express themselves using emojis instead of “using their words”. Huh!
Yay Team Punctuation! If Today’s Youth think punctuation and full sentences are only for angry people, so be it. I will then feel free to shake my metaphorical cane and judge them for laziness and/or rudeness in leaving out punctuation when it takes so little time to add – unlike us earlier generations, they have predictive text and don’t have to multi-press actual buttons on their phone for each character, or even (gasp) put ink onto paper and pay for stamps.
That being said, the one time I wouldn’t use a full stop is after a single-word “thanks” – I think “Thanks.” sounds kind of sarcastic, so would either leave the punctuation off or use an exclamation mark.
lol, I emailed my HOA front desk, started it with “To whom it may concern”, signed with my name and phone number. They replied with “To whom it may concern” knowing full well who they were addressing. le sigh.
Ooooo they SASSY. The temptation to reply with “To whom it may concern, along with Jessica” (or whoever signed the last email) would be STRONG.
le sigh indeeeeed.
I use Hi or Hello informally.
I sign off with Yours in calendrical heresy (thanks Yoon Ha Lee) because I love it. Informally. Formally, usually, Thanks or Thanks for your attention.
stay safe
As a native speaker of English of (I think) a similar age to Mod R, I can report that I too was taught to write formal letters with Dear Sir/Madam and Yours sincerely. I’m not going to blanket recommend any openings/closings, because as far as I can tell EVERY possible opening/closing has one group of passionate advocates and one group of “I’ve never been so insulted” haters. However, given I live in a country which is trying to revive its original language (pre-colonisation), and most of my jobs have been related to public services, I have saved a number of lists of Work-Approved Email Greetings/Signoffs in the non-English language, so I can feel reasonably safe in selecting from those for my work emails.
Sidenote – as an autistic person I will just say emojis are my enemy because who the heck knows what they mean anymore, there isn’t even a dictionary!
The problem with this is you are living in England, where they create their own rules, that don’t even follow the established rules for the rest of the English speaking email writing world. As an American living in England I was also hit with the “major” difference between Kind Regards and Regards.
Apparently, Kind Regards is polite and Regards is code for please die in a fire 🙂
I grew up speaking English and I was still totally lost on this hidden language of email etiquette, so I gave up Oh well. I think for England Kind Regards and Best Wishes are the safest. I shudder to think what an old school English person would say if I signed off an email with XOXOXO and didn’t know them personally
I use Hi, for the greeting and Thanks, to end the email.
Good morning ModR!
Blather, blather
Kind regards (if I feel kindly)
Regards (if I don’t)
Keep well/warm/healthy/safe (for a slightly more personal touch)
Lynda
“My teachers, who’d never even met a native English speaker, drilled into me the importance of ‘Dear Sir/Madam‘ and ‘Yours Sincerely‘ from textbooks older than my mother. In my culture, formality means politeness. ”
No, but this so real, i cant TT_TT
In Germany, we are quite formal as well. So there‘s quite a difference between really formal/beaurocratic, business and informal.
When trying for funny and informal, I often end mails with ‚don‘t sein out too far‘, ‚keep your ears up straight‘ or ‚please don‘t sell the home world while I am gone‘.
That‘s as funny as I get.
Miss Manners would be appalled at how basic politeness has been bastardized into a landmine of passive aggression. I don’t understand how people simply get to decide that a word or phrase suddenly means something different. Maybe it has something to do with tone of voice that isn’t transfered to written word.
People who think standard phrases are offensive are choosing to be offended. like Gen z thinks a thumbs up emoji is the same as flipping the bird. Thumbs up has been used for decades before Gen z was born so being offended is a choice.
Bridget – You speak my mind! Who is the we that gets to make these sweeping choices. If you make the choice that basic politeness creates a certain tone, then it will be misconstrued, but if that effort were put into landing on putting some effort into giving grace and extending kindness, it seems the way to go -all the way around, for email and for conversation. It is true that sometimes I slip in a, “Have a lovely day,” and I don’t mean it with my whole heart – but most of the time I am really trying for a positive exchange and a level above basic politeness.
Anyway, air kiss to your “basic politeness has been bastardized into a landmine of passive aggression” phraseology.
As I sometimes tell my cat, “Don’t look at me in that tone of voice!”
Oh well – cats. You haven’t truly been dissed until your cat has shaken his hind leg at you as he stalks away in a regally offended huff.
um…I am maybe just An Old. I do Best Regards or Thanks.
I use Good morning, or Good afternoon
Then end with Thank you!
I was born in Canada so I am a native English speaker. I am 62 and I did not know any of the things you wrote were anything other than polite. I have generally used “love” for family, “take care” for friends and close colleagues, and “thanks” for emails that are requesting information or favours from anyone. I don’t know what’s wrong with sincerely or regards. Those sound fine to me! Clearly I too am a product of my upbringing. Maybe Canadians are polite in email too?
It’s all ‘Regards’ or ‘Kind regards’ in Office-Land, Australia – unless it’s ‘Many thanks’. But Office-Land is more formal than other non-officey workplaces I’ve been in, so YMMV.
Another Canadian DM here (imagine my surprise that there are 2 of us in the horde!). I usually open with ‘hi’, or ‘good morning/afternoon’ if I don’t know the recipient as well. I usually end with ‘thanks’ cause we Canadians are uber polite, eh? I figure thanks can mean thanks for doing what I just asked or just thanks for reading. If I’ve really asked for a whopper it might be ‘many thanks’.
Yes! I open with Hi name, and end with thanks, my name. Thanks is just a polite way to close because as you said, it thanks them at bare minimum for reading the email.
I usually use proper punctuation, grammar and spelling for clarity.
My pet peeve is when I take the time to make a list of questions that I need answers for, and the person responding hits reply after reading the first sentence and ignores the rest. This is so common these days!
I’ve been using “Cheers” to sign off on my work emails for years and I’ve yet to hear a complaint. I also refuse to consider if it’s appropriate or not. Ilike it and that’s that.
I use a lot of Hello X,
In closing, it depends on the response I want. I hope to hear from you soon or Respectfully are common ones. Sometimes I just sign my name.
I often use Hey to start my emails (or just the person’s name), and I close with Best. My GenZ kid closes with Kindly, which baffles me. Good luck!
I’ve mostly used “regards” or “best” but now reading these comments, I think I’m going to try “cheers” for a while. It hasn’t been in my email repertoire before, but I’m liking the sound of it. Of course, I’m retired, so nobody really cares how I sign my emails.
My 30 yo daughter always signs off with
Bye
See Ya
TTYL (Talk to you later)
Later
I always end with Thanks or Respectfully
When responding to customers I use this as the base template for first contact.
Hi Mod R, Thanks for your email. Body content here. Kind Regards, Variel.
If reaching out to a customer it’s this template instead.
Hi Mod R, Hope you are well. Body content here. Kind Regards, Variel.
If I’m feeling spicy including a Have a lovely day/afternoon/evening if the issue is resolved. Usually it’s just being polite, sometimes it’s bless your heart south US style. If or it’s the first or last day of the week I’ll substitute Hope you had a lovely weekend or Have a lovely weekend where appropriate.
Work recently assigned me a copilot licence, it’s Microsoft’s version of ChatGPT like AI using internal work data as the source, because I’m too blunt, I’ve been instructed to use it to formalise and soften my tone, it’s been a life saver.
For personal stuff I stick to my to the point normal style of talking.
I either don’t use an email greeting or just use Hello!
I sign off with thanks,
I’m a millennial if that goes into the equation. I could never write hope this email doesn’t find you lol
American millennial here: I typically go with good morning/afternoon/evening and thanks. I work in a science field so keeping track of who is a doctor and who isn’t gets confusing so I quit using the Mr./Mrs./Dr. etc a while back. I occasionally will close with have a good one, but I think that’s more of a regional one. I switch to regards if someone has pissed me off lol
Family, friends and quick work emails don’t get a salutation and sometimes they get nothing more than my name or just M.
More formally at work it’s usually Good morning or good afternoon. Sometimes Dear, depending on the age of the recipient.
I sign off with Peace! Or Peace and all Good. And more rarely, Pax et bonum.
I am old, so feel free to give my habits the side-eye! I open with “Good morning!” (afternoon/evening), using the exclamation point to conveniently avoid the choice between a comma (boring) and a colon (harsh, formal).
Typically, I use “Thanks!” instead of sincerely, best/best wishes, etc. if “Thanks ” is contextually inappropriate, I may just sign off with my first name and nothing else.
I’m looking forward to learning the modern usages from all you young whippersnappers in The Horde!
I usually end my work emails with:
Thanks,
Jody
It can be sincere, or as sarcastic as I want, and no one will know out in Internetland!
Hey NAME,
email blather
Cheers!
Chef Shelley
p.s. but I’m gen X so your mileage may vary
Absolutely with you there. I’m 60 years old and learned English the old way. In school. In the 70ties and 80ties. And I still have no idea how to start and end my letters and E-Mails ‘correctly’. Certainly there are also differences between English and American English? So curious.
Wowsers, I am so behind the times. There is no hope of me catching up.
If I were in your shoes, I think I would be tempted to invent House of Andrews specific closings and consider it branding, such as, “Looking forward to seeing you in Baha Char.” I am thinking, “May your magic always be up” may not be a good choice though.
Going back to living in the dark ages.
I think you’re overthinking this. Every age group does things differently. What I do is start an email with “Hi [name] and end with “Thanks” and my name below it.
This explains so much! I answer emails for a dance studio my kids own and emails that I find perfectly reasonable have infuriated my 40 year old child.
Then yesterday one of my teenage grandchildren told me “Nanny, don’t use periods in texts.” That was after she told me that her sentences were all run ons on purpose. (I had been saying we needed to work on sentence mechanics.)
I usually open with:
Good (time of day)
or
(Name)
and end with “Thank you” or just my name.
Depending on how often I have corresponded with the parents.
My child the business owner uses:
Dance Families,
and ends with
Keep dancin’
My favorite email sign-off was from an old Astronomy professor of mine:
“Clear Skies”
I use Good Morning First Name, and then Let me know if you have any additional questions, MyName If we’ve been emailing a couple times on the same thing, it gradually moves to just their first name, and nothing for a closing.
This whole thread makes me anxious. I’m GenX, when did polite written responses become this passive aggressive thing??!! No, polite is polite. And I agree with Mod R, the older or more above me in an organization, the more polite I am out of respect. I raised two GenZ kids, and they are polite as well, so maybe it’s specific corporate culture in certain size companies?
Dear Mod R,
I think you must be my age. My spouse and children and maybe many others laugh at me, or worse, feel the wrong message is being sent, because I punctuate my text messages. I was raised in a time where punctuation assisted in clarity and can’t bring myself not to do it. My neutral/safe sign off has been either Best regards, or Very best regards (if I think they might miss the tone or need extra fuzzies). . . or the friendly Cheers, when amongst friends. Now I wonder what connotations I am missing or judgement I am creating. Sigh.
Cheers,
Out of the cultural loop, but mostly still happy to be coached along
I’m Southern to my core and politeness rules. I use Dear xxx, Sincerely, and Thank You a LOT.
Late Boomer here. I speak American English. I don’t like email communication much and your comments reinforce this. I’m polite and sincere with no hidden messages. (I also text with complete sentences and punctuation). So I’m a dinosaur! I also write notes in cursive.
It’s very difficult to understand these perceived negative interpretations of perfectly innocuous greetings.
I’m a Librarian. I begin my emails with Hi or Dear or Hello. I sign them with my professional signature line for the library or for the other organizations in which I am an officer. Sometimes, I just sign Love you, Mom for my son. 🙂
I don’t care what other people do. Now I get people dissing on me for writing Hi or Hello and Bye in texts. I’m trying not to do that now. 😀
I have never heard of any of this email stuff. Is it a British thing? I just sign mine “thanks” and call it a day. If someone wants to read something extra into that, it’s on them.
Yay for Graphic Audio! So excited for Blood Heir, too.
depends who I am writing to. if it is a friend, I generally just use their name with a hyphen, on new lines write the message, on the last line I put my name, like
–
blah blah blah
if it is more formal, I might write
Dear . if it is to a company, to whom it may concern.
blah blah
regards,
I never use warmest regards or the like, would use something more personal if it is someone I know, like With my best wishes or love.
I tend to take thing as written, unless context tells me that they don’t wish me luck or best wishes from the time.
I worked in local government here in MD, USA (not Federal government, but one step down). I was a secretary. I worked in one of the highest offices (right under the executive, which is basically the “president” of the local government for lack of better explanation). I had to send out a massive amount of emails every day.
For more formal emails with someone I didn’t know I would always start with “Good morning Mr/Mrs so-and-so,” (or Good afternoon/evening/whatever). Towards the end of my career (I retired in 2024) I was a bit unsure of using “Mr/Mrs” because a)gender fluidity and b)not every name is easy to decipher for gender and what if they are non-binary? So, I was struggling with that a bit.
For signing off on an email – I always kept it super simple. “Thank you!” or “Thanks!” The amount of !!! depended on how much of a favor it was LOL!! I know it wasn’t the “best” or “most professional” way of signing off, but honestly, I didn’t care. As long as the email was professional and got my message across with no misspelling.
Born and raised in the US and I use all the closings you do. Except for “bless your heart”, which I love, I refuse to see a mean interpretation in any closing I receive or use.
Oof, Mod R over here bringing out the sign off discussion 🙂
Honestly, and this may seem harsh, but I’m too tired to worry about it.
As a millennial (or xennial, or geriatric millennial or whatever most recent name they’ve come up with for those of us between 80-85), take my best wishes or regards how you want to. I am polite, always, but it’s an email, I am not pressed over a sign off. I learned email etiquette in the Navy, so mostly mine are all very polite but blunt. Now polite is being harsh? I’m tired, y’all.
Nowadays I work with Europeans, and largely eastern Europeans, so they are very straight forward about things. Which is a blessing, I love them!
I’m excited for the GA White Hot!
I may be out of touch as well, but I end my formal emails with ‘yours truly’ or ‘sincerely,’ etc. In my informal correspondence, I just put my initial T
I open with “Hey” or “Hey Folks” depending on singular or plural.
I usually don’t close with anything other than my intial “D” unless I’m really pissed, in which case I’ll close with “Blessings”
D
I don’t even use a sign off phrase anymore. Name, position, company, contact info (and basically the same for personal emails). If I did, I’d go with my standby “Sincerely” and if someone thinks I want to hit them with a chair because of it…well…no comment, lol.
Also, being from Georgia, USA, I read the title of this post as White Hot Georgia Preorder and thought wow, they do know our weather!
My sign off tends to be “thanks” or “take care”. Mostly “thanks” because the likelyhood of me e-mailing someone who is not close enough for it to sign off with “love” and it not being me requesting something of them is slim.
Greeting tends to just be their name, or “Hi!”
Hi!
My greeting is always “Hi,” or “Hi [name],” — unless to one of my sibs, then I am free to be me “Hey Ho” “Howdy” “Hello, is anyone out there?”
My closing is usually “Thanks” but sometimes “Cheers” or “Kind regards” or “Best to you and yours”
As to emojis, I explained to my husband that I use emojis in my texts so if he’s driving he can just look at the symbols and get the main idea. I also tell him if he gets a text from me with no emojis at all, then either I am dying or mad.
Thanks!
Being also one of those ancients – I do use – with best regards, sincerely etc
For friends it is just -(first name) without anything added unless it is a snarky comment about this fog bound area on the US West Coast.
There are times I would love to be back in Europe, even with having to deal with the grammar associated with genders, cases, and verbs being delayed to the the end of the sentence.
100% agree with being yourself. Unless I’m writing to an executive, I avoid these minefields by using a Latin signoff. My favorite use of a “dead” language.
Occasionally, someone will say “I had to Google your signature, I had no idea what it meant, that’s so cool/such an “Anna” thing/weird but okaaay.”
Examples:
Cura ut valeas! — “Take care that you be well”.
Vale! — be well
Gen X American here, for what that’s worth. I don’t have a clue what Gen Z understands from words, so if it comes up I ask my 27-y-o coworker. But for my own habits, I have always been a plain speaker and say what I mean. I used to sign all my work emails “With respect”, which generated some goodwill among our clients. But we did a rebrand in 2014 with designed email signatures so I had to give that up. I’m careful to say thanks in just about every professional message I send.
In personal use, I am less formal but still more formal than most of my peers, I suspect. I use periods and complete sentences out of habit, though I do leave off the former in texts much of the time since I have heard about the connotation and they often aren’t necessary. My main goal is to communicate clearly, and I’ve always been frustrated by how often people assume the less benign interpretation of something when it was not meant that way at all.
This seems like the perfect opportunity to ask what I’ve seen in books and wanted to know for years:
1. what is ‘side eye’ ?
2. what is a sh*t eating grin?
3. I was going to ask what does it mean when someone’s eyes ‘widened’? But my teenager has just explained it
Thanks in advance,
Yours, agedly,
y
“Side eye” is when you look at someone askance, or with a look that wonders ‘what the heck are you doing?’ Generally referring to when people are out in public and they keep their faces pointed forward but they look at you out of the ‘side’ of their eye. 👀 <there’s even an emoji. It can convey feelings of frustration, suspicion, and disgust depending on context.
A “sh*t eating grin” is when a person knows that they have one-upped you or won in the face of the other’s adversity. It’s somewhat immature in the sense that you might see it when a younger sibling wins an argument with an older one. The emotion being conveyed by the one grinning is that the one that lost should “eat sh*t.” It’s like a tyrannically gleeful grin. Can also be used by someone to good affect after a hard battle and they finally defeat the enemy.
Others probably have more to say about this, but those have been my understandings
I would never have guessed you weren’t a native English speaker, Mod R! You have an excellent flair for writing in English.
I need help with this issue too as I’m Gen X and my cohort was pretty formal. “All the best” is typical for non friend interactions, also “kind regards” for more formal, but it does sound courtly. “Best,” works but seems like you’re rushing. Looking forward to reading the Horde’s replies!
Generally I start
Hello X, or “to whom it concerns” or “team” because I send regular emails to inboxes that are for groups of people where the person who is “on” at that moment is the one who responds. I use “cheers” or “Thanks” to close often. However, if it’s someone I know well or am friendly with my closings have ranged from “From under a mountain of tissues” (I was sick) to “by your herbal essence.” So it really just depends
‘Cheers’ is a good sign off I feel. Unless I’m raging then it’s ‘I look forward to hearing from you’ all the way!!
I usually just sign off with “Cheers” so I too am anachronistic.
Oh. My dear Mod R., I’m the last person to offer you this advice, as I’m woefully stuck in the “Dear Sirs” era. I’m also usually writing something formal in academia, so there is that. Grammarly can help. It often helps to an annoying degree. One thing I have used fairly regularly in the past when signing an email to friends is “Pax.” Of course, I could then be construed as having visions of Roman conquest. Best Regards works in some more formal cases. I suppose any recent publication for College Freshman Composition I would have the salutations and signature etiquette for emails. It’s a jungle out there, and I, for one, tend to rely on my trusty equivalent of a Winchester rifle rather than try any new-fangled semi-automatic pistols when it comes to this issue.
Openings depend on how well I know them. “Hi Mod R!” Seems to work for someone I don’t know well, but am feeling friendly towards.
But closings seem to be the stinging nettle of correspondence. They look innocuous but always irritate someone. I just leave them off now.
Uh oh, I didn’t know my email opening and closing was the equivalent of the southern ‘bless your heart’
I use:
To Name or Job Title
Kind regards
As my opening and closing. SMH
Regards is completely fine and totally neutral – at least in a work/professional context. I also use Thanks! pretty regularly with coworkers in an attempt to be less formal. Honestly, even sincerely (on its own, not “yours sincerely) might sound a little old fashioned but shouldn’t get anyone’s hackles up.
For greeting a regular old Hello, Good afternoon/Good morning, is also pretty innocuous.
I learned from a shark of a divorce attorney “With warm regards” was equivalent to a declaration of war which would involve bathing in your blood. She only used it as a weapon of last resort.
I came from your school of thinking. I was shocked.
I use Cheers ubiquitously.
Big Love! For the 6 people I actually like.
I work in the corporate world and what I use and see most is “Hello, ____” and I normally sign off with “Thanks” or “Thank you” if it’s a neutral or friendly response and “Please reach out if you have any questions” which in my mind translates to “If your too dumb or self absorbed to get it, I’ll get out my crayons and draw you a picture”
No one’s called me on it yet, so good enough in my mind 🙂
Write whatever you’re comfortable with. I’m 59 years old and write emails and texts the same as I was taught to write letters. I recently saw an article that said this last generation (I think they’re called Gen Z) found punctuation like periods to be harsh or passive aggressive, God only knows what they consider commas. If someone doesn’t like the way I write emails or text they can bite me, there’s nothing passive in my aggression. And for God’s sake people proofread, spellcheck is no one’s friend.
As a CEO’s executive assistant, I send/reply to a lot of emails. I have the same issue, along with the problem of using too many exclamation points so that I sound friendly (it doesn’t work; I end up sounding unhinged). I’m afraid I’m of no use to you on this issue, but I feel your pain!
Take care,
Jenn
I’m 67 and still use correct forms of address. I dislike all the slang and abbreviations and don’t get me started on emoji. shakes stick. I don’t have a stick incidentally.
This is me apparently hopelessly sinking in word quagmire. I’m 74 and what you see is what you get.
Lawyer here.
Greetings and sign offs totally depend on audience. Friendly adversaries get hi and end with ‘cheers’. Folks I don’t know yet ‘regards’. Folks Who Have Done Wrong get ‘Govern yourself accordingly’ which I did not know when I was a wee proto lawyer is the equivalent of ‘go F yourself, your legal position, and your ancestors to the tenth generation.’
Non lawyers get ‘cheers’ or ‘kind regards’ so they won’t think I am soulless.
Here in Canada, we end with “kindly govern yourself accordingly” to the nasty lawyers. We are always polite, eh?
I forgot the Kindly! I realized after I posted. Yes, we Canucks do add that teaspoon of sugar, don’t we!
I felt bad leaving it off which shows how ingrained our manners are! 🤣
I’m adding that one to my repertoire of salutations! 😂
𝐄𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐥 𝐁𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠:
Hello [name],
Hope you are doing well.
…
𝐄𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐥 𝐄𝐧𝐝:
All the best,
HA
Professional/Business e-mails:
Just start with the name. Mr./Ms. (as the case may be) Last Name. Then, depending on response, just First Name
End with: /Marisa or /business name, address etc.
Friend or Family e-mails:
Anything goes. Even Emojis, which should NEVER be used for professional/business e-mails.
Also, as you can see, I am old school. Periods are necessary and I always use them in any type of e-mail. Also, sorry but two spaces after a period is the way to go.
And grammar rules usually apply except for really close friends, who can razz you out if you do something really stupid.
ModR: just be polite and don’t sweat this stuff. If the reader/recipient is upset, they will let you know. All of us old…er, more mature people know that the salutations and endings are rote and don’t mean what they sat.
SAY, not “sat”. (Arghghgh)
Actually, using emojis in business texts or emails can be downright dangerous:
Last December, the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal upheld a decision by the King’s Bench that texting an emoji of a “thumb’s up” was enough of a signature to bind a farming corporation to a contract to deliver 87 metric tonnes of flax.
It was quite fact specific but after a phone conversation, the would-be buyer emailed a scan of a contract to the potential seller’s representative and asked for a text confirming that the contract was accepted. On previous deals, the seller had texted back one or two word acceptances. This time the reply was just a “thumb’s up” emoji. The buyer assumed that meant the deal was accepted and acted accordingly; the seller later claimed the emoji just meant they had received the document and would look it over later.
The courts ruled that the emoji amounted to both an acceptance of and an electronic signature on the contract. And awarded over $80,000 in damages for breach of contract.
The case is now on appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada. But the moral is clear: emojis have absolutely NO place in any serious communication.
Yikes! At most I risk a smiley to someone I know well.
Or, okay, an occasional meme. But never on a settle offer/acceptance.
I gotta read this case.
(Sorry, sorry – law nerd decloaking)
I wonder what would’ve been the outcome if it was a middle finger emoji?😳
Heard about that. Made me laugh. There IS fun in lawyering.
JLAgirl: If you want to look it up, the case citation is:
Achter Land & Cattle Ltd v South West Terminal Ltd, 2024 SKCA 115
It looks like the application for leave to appeal is being considered by the SCC. No decision on granting or refusing leave shows on the SCC docket.
It depends on the audience. I might start out with Good morning, (person) or Hi, (Person). Sometimes, it’s just Howdy! I might do a Good Morning or Good Afternoon. For signing off, it’s usually Thanks. It can also be Take care or Be kind to yourself or I appreciate you!
I typically start with ‘Hi or Hello’ or ‘Hello all’ or just ‘All’. I’m GenX and get and send so many emails internationally that there is no time to analyze subtext of greetings and closing statements. I mean if the whole email is cranky then fine the ‘best regards’ sounds kinda mean but otherwise…it doesn’t phase me. The only thing I avoid is ‘Thanks!’as I’ve realized it’s a perky girl thing to use and not super professional sounding.
well I was just schooled on “Regards”. used it in a blind email this morning. That can’t be true for all generations
Oh, this email thing is TOO funny! I AM a native English speaker (in a professional job where I have to write a lot of emails) and have been obsessing over email sign-offs for the last couple of months – I usually go with “Thanks!” but that doesn’t work if I’m not requesting something. I then switched to “All the best” but someone told me that came with baggage.
I absolutely DESPISE (with every fiber of my being – like, more than the Sunset Realty people or pre-redemption Hugh) the use of “Kindly” in any way, shape, or form – the amount of rage that bubbles up even just thinking about it is completely irrational. I think it’s because it always screams “spam! spam! phishing!” because SO many obvious phishing emails CLEARLY written by non-native speakers overuse “kindly” worse than Bran overused bad pickup lines (not my best analogy but my brain is tired).
So, anyway – this is completely not helpful to you, but if you figure something out please share it with the Horde, because I’m also floundering here.
I hope people will take it in the spirit it is meant, given what they know about you and your interactions with them. Meaning, if I know you at all, and even just through this blog as the mysterious and amazing Mod-R, if I know you are from the UK or former UK colony, then saying Cheers, at the end of the email would get no guff from my US self bc it is in context of you being you.
I also do a lot of work internationally, so whatever someone signs off using (or doesn’t!) I give a lot of grace because it may be their second language or they may have cultural differences. So I’d treat this new Gen-Z/Alpha whatever convention the same way- cultural difference/generational difference. I read the way it is written as it is most generously/positively interpreted and assume others do the same with me.
So, my advice is- don’t worry too much. Just pick what works and stick with it. If nothing else the consistency will give comfort to whomever is reading your emails 🙂
I think it’s best to write for one’s audience, so you might want to gently step into some “lightly hinged” options for the Horde, at least until you’re willing to let the training hinges go entirely. I wouldn’t trust my self employed chaotic responses for the rest of the workforce, so I’m no help for that area.
I present these options for consideration.
Opening:
“Hail, Book Devouring Horde!”
Closing
“Fluffily Yours”
(But seriously. As a Canadian, I usually sign off with some form of thank you if I can’t come up with anything more appropriate.
hooray for the Wilmington Years!
(won’t say anything about emails since there’s lots of comments on that already)
I am PUMPED for more Hidden Legacy GA! I already did a full reread/listen of Nevada’s trilogy after Burn For Me came out. I could not just stop there after listening to the GA audiobook. I anticipate this pattern will repeat for each release.
In terms of work emails, I am a victim of the millennial exclamation point.
I usually kick off with some version of “Hi/Good morning Team or Name”
If I have an action or request for a specific person(s), I @ their name in the greeting.
I always sign off with “Thanks! or Thank you!”
Unless I am particularly peeved. Then they get a comma. If we are true enemies, they get a period. I can count on less than one hand the number of times I’ve used a period.
And then I meticulously review how many exclamation points I’ve used in the body so I don’t come across as too unhinged. 🙃
Hello, I am responding to the information you requested. Someone once explained to me that emails are informal. Emails and texts have thrown proper English to the wind. I hope that helps.
Thank you for your time,
Esther
Back in the day when I was growing up as an “Air Force Brat”, good manners in speaking, writing and actions were drilled into me. I don’t pay any attention to the trends or changes to slangs and phrases and continue to hold to those manners no matter how outdated or outmoded others might consider them now. So depending upon the context it’s either “Dear Sir or Madam for opening and sincerely for close. In more personal situations it can be different for all different friends and family. I say be yourself! Because we find yourself delightful 😉
To start, “Hello” or “Hi”, depending on level of formality. Followed by one or two names. If more than two, then use “all”. If someone is being copied just FYI, then I will put that under the salutation, so they know they don’t have to do anything (whew!)
Usually “Best” at the end, because I often WANT the ambiguity. My husband hates that, like many on this thread, because it’s not specific. But in a lot of my work emails, I often don’t want to add the feelings, since they might not be pretty 😊.
If it’s someone I know a bit better, even in work context, then “I hope all is well for you and yours”. And I will also use emojis with such friendly colleagues. I actually don’t get the rap against emojis, because emotions can be easy to misread, especially in multi-cultural messages. So anything that helps a reader understand the tone/context.
And finally, my mother was an English teacher, so I will never skip the period at the end.
Wow, had a lot more to say about this than I thought I did!
I share your frustrations as a decidedly older middle aged woman. You see, my urban fantasy reading has added a wrinkle for me of, what if they are Fey? You don’t “thank” the Fey, they then conclude you are indebted to them. How do I politely and professionally end an email? *eek*
For me, all emails start with Hello if I am being more formal or I do not know who I’m addressing. I use Hi for people I know well. For someone I’ve been having a series of conversations with, I frequently don’t even put a salutation. I think of the exchange as more of a text message.
The closing depends upon the message. It can be thank you or thinking of you or take care or I hope to hear from you soon. It just depends.
74 year-old American woman raised in the south, living in Texas.
I like ‘All the best’ if I’m not trying to send secret passive aggressive messages to the recipient.
Hehehe
I am also lost … just don’t say Bless Your Heart ❤️
That means you maybe a sandwich shy of a picnic … also never ask for just one grit
… that’s a Bless your Heart situation.
Have a great almost Friday the 13th …Take Care !
Dear xx,
Generic filler
May you have the day you deserve,
LOL!!! Love that ending.
I was taught letter writing and etiquette years and years ago, In elementary school . We were taught manners, how to make introductions and letter writing. I had Dear Sirs and To whom it may concern if you didn’t have a name. I used just Sincerely as a closing when I did office work!
If they are doing you a solid;
• Thank You. Regards, Bea (acquaintance)
If its your sweetie;
• Forever yours, Bea
If they pissed you right off, not the European pissed(drunk) but the NY one, where you even curse their predecessor‘s ancestors ;
•Fu*k Off, 😡(Emoji needed)
If you really want, need and desire something from someone;
•Appreciatively, Bea
If you want to get a better grade, seat, or salary;
•Respectfully Yours; Beatrice (bcse not a friend)
I got a ton of them from working on Wall Street. Lol.
As an aside, my brother and I send ridiculous emails to each other, with attachments. I don’t remember who started it but it has continued since ‘98. Since I’m the oldest I think he likes to correct my grammar 🤷🏽♀️
Don’t look at me. I’m a boomer. I probably learned that stuff from the same textbook.
As an American Southern Gen-X that has worked for Fortune 100 multinationals my whole career I can say I don’t give a flying fig what Gen Z and Alpha think. Being polite and using proper grammar and punctuation is a sign of respect and intelligence. if I’m emailing someone in the US that I’ve not communicated with before I open with Hello X, anyone in EMEA Dear mr/mrs/ms X , LATAM Dear X or Hello X. Once I establish a rapport, I generally switch to Hi X unless it’s a more formal EMEA country like Germany. I always close with “I appreciate your assistance ” Thanks. I work in IT so if it’s someone I communicate with often and know well I often skip the greeting and close and just state what I need. it’s beyond ridiculous that people try to read something into standard politeness. Unless of course it’s “Bless your heart” everyone from the south knows that is the worst insult.
Also, I forgot to say I work with many people from India and I absolutely love when they close with “Kindly do the needful” cracks me up every time.
It is a tricky thing! As emailing platforms have evolved I have started using “Hi” casual or “Hello” for a more formal greeting. I still do use “Dear” for a business letter or cover letter, even though the word seems awfully personal for that. 😅
I do sign off with Best, or Best In Health ‘cause that’s my field. I try to vary my sign off as little as possible so people will ignore it as visual white noise 😁
Most of my email openings start with “Hi” and the person’s first name. If it is someone that I’ve met, I may add “I hope all is going well for you!”. For closing, a couple of years back I started using “Respectfully”.
Oh no, I also sign off with Best and now I’m having a crisis 🤯
According to the ‘demographic’ I am a millennial. I have three children. One Gen-Z and two Gen-Alpha (despite being born 15 and 18 months apart)
I fully punctuate and proofread for grammar my text messages and WhatsApps [*whisper* yes, they are different… I still use SMS]
You do you, mod-r! I open with Good morning/afternoon and end with “Many thanks” (if I’m asking for something) or “Kind regards” (if I’m informing).
Because it’s polite, and if anyone has an issue I can honestly tell them that I got me first email address 25 years ago and am too old (at 39) to change my ways!
Wow! Poor Mod R! I’m not sure I even knew that there were so many negative connections! I always just used Hello, and finished with Thanks very much. However I have been known to throw in the Bless your heart or a Blessed be but those are generally more personal letters.
Don’t stress too much. People will see what they want to, you just write what you want to say and treat it like a belonging 😁 let it go and if it comes back it was meant to!
Good Luck! or Best of Luck two more endings lol
For work emails, I tend to start with either Good morning + their 1st name or Hello + their 1st name. Because we are a global company, we pretty uniformly use Kind regards + my 1st name to sign off.
For friend email, Hi for a beginning & either just my name or TTFN + my name to end (Ta ta for now).
I’m a doctor, so most of my mails are to patients or other doctors, so it’s
Take care
Hang in there
See you soon
Thanks
Aside from the standard
Sincerely for formal letters like accompanying resumes or the like
Then there is have a nice day
Cheers
Thanks for your time