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email etiquette



father_and_son

Well-known member
Jan 23, 2012
4,653
Under the Police Box
No, its just with letter writing, there have been rules laid down for centuries, eg start with "Dear Mr (name)", and therefore, sign off with "Yours sincerely,").

With email, it seems to be a free for all and the kids seem to be leading the way with their bollox speak.

Expanding a little... You can only be "sincere" if you name the person. It would be "Yours faithfully" if you don't name them in the salutation.
 




Trevor

In my Fifties, still know nothing
NSC Patron
Dec 16, 2012
2,270
Milton Keynes
Personal emails, I would have said there are very few rules.

Business emails. Hi would only be appropriate if you were already on friendly terms. There is no issue with "kind regards". I always use "best regards". Yours faithfully or yours sincerely are a bit open to ridicule in an email.

Love and kisses,
Trevor
 




Munkfish

Well-known member
May 1, 2006
12,090
I can't see the problem with 'Hi X'. E-Mail is not a letter, If writing out directly to a customer I could see the need to write in the style of a letter, however E-Mail is a lot less informal, would you continue writing in letter format in a text message? It wouldn't suit the purpose.

Where I work even when writing to directors Hi is the common start to most E-Mails. However I agree on Kind Regards, however thats more personal taste.
 






8ace

Banned
Jul 21, 2003
23,811
Brighton
Hi <name>
<message>
Cheers,
8ace

or if it's to multiple people or they don't have a name:

Hello,
<message>
Cheers,
8ace
 
















ringmerseagulltoo

Active member
Feb 16, 2012
440
I wouldn't say 'Hi', so I don't write 'hi', I put 'hello', but that is just me. In that sense I regard emails more as written speech than a letter.

Having said that, what really irritates me is lack of punctuation or paragraphs. Both are intended to make the text clearer. Not using them is both lazy and offensive. The writer is effectively saying that his microsecond of time that it would take to include them, is more important than the reader's convenience.

The above two paragraphs may be a contradiction however.
 


Seagull27

Well-known member
Feb 7, 2011
3,368
Bristol
I recently had to email someone called Jo. I started off with 'Hi Jo', but then realising that may sound a bit informal, changed it to 'Dear Jo'. I then wrote the rest of the email, clicked send, only to realise that I had written 'Hi Dear' :facepalm:
 


Murray 17

Well-known member
Jul 6, 2003
2,163
What bugs me about emails is when people begin with 'Dear All'. Do they think a group of people will be huddled together listening to one person reading it?

If you consider the etiquette for a letter, it is 'Dear ...', because that particular letter is going to a particular person. If you 'CC' lots of people on an email it makes sense to write 'Hi', or else you would have to list all the names separated with '/' s.
 




I recently had to email someone called Jo. I started off with 'Hi Jo', but then realising that may sound a bit informal, changed it to 'Dear Jo'. I then wrote the rest of the email, clicked send, only to realise that I had written 'Hi Dear' :facepalm:

Always check before sending. In the era of letters, did you ever dither between 'yours sincerely' and 'yours faithfully' and end up with 'yours sinfully'?
 




Nibble

New member
Jan 3, 2007
19,238
Hi,

Tell them what you need to,

Best,
Mr Nibble
 


Nathan

Well-known member
Jan 8, 2010
3,789
Always check before sending. In the era of letters, did you ever dither between 'yours sincerely' and 'yours faithfully' and end up with 'yours sinfully'?

It has been known for me on email to dither between Kind regards and Best regards, and on a few occasions have gone with Kind retards.
 




pasty

A different kind of pasty
Jul 5, 2003
31,040
West, West, West Sussex
I usually sign off with "Thnaks and regards"

And yes, that is a deliberate typo above because 9 times out of 10 that is what I usually end up typing :facepalm:
 


hans kraay fan club

The voice of reason.
Helpful Moderator
Mar 16, 2005
62,768
Chandlers Ford
Always 'Hi' for personal e-mails. What else would you use?

For work ones never 'Hi', and I don't like 'Hello'. I nearly always use 'Good morning / Good afternoon / Good evening' (though I really must endeavour to desist from sending work e-mails in the evening).


Sign off 'Cheers' for mates, and 'Best regards' for work. As per [MENTION=15377]Nathan[/MENTION] above, have been known to send the odd 'Best retards'. The G and the T on the keypad (especially if typing on the phone), are dangerously close together!
 


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