For some reason I’ve been paying attention lately to how people sign their e-mails and thought I’d throw out a few thoughts. I’d be particularly interested to hear from people on the strangest sign-offs they’ve received.
Below is a list of some of the more common sign-offs along with my take on what they really mean.
- Cheers! – I’m cool!
- Best – I don’t want to be locked into a specific sign-off – please interpret as you wish (best wishes, best regards, best cheers, etc.)
- All the best - When “Best” simply isn’t good enough
- Ciao! – I’m cool! and trying to act foreign
- Sincerely – I took this really great business writing class in high school
- Thanks – I really do mean thanks (when used correctly) / I can’t think of anything else to say (when used incorrectly, for example at the bottom of a flame e-mail)
- Hope all is well – Please DO NOT write back with details of whether you are well or not – I’m just trying to be polite
- Warm regards – I’ve just returned from my latest analyst session and am feeling pretty centered
- [nothing but your name] – Sometimes less is more
- [not even your name – just your full signature] – I’m so efficient/important/etc. that I don’t have time to even type in my name
With my very cheeriest and best thanks and regards. Here's hoping all is well
Sincerely,
seth j. levine
mobius venture capital
Rgds,
J.
Has been my (signature) signature for the longest time, so I am sticking to it...
Posted by: Jeff Clavier | March 29, 2006 at 01:04 PM
thx
i'm crazy busy so abrevs and lc but i appreciate the info
ttfn
code for i have kids. if you understand then so do you and can identify
Posted by: Eric Darst | March 29, 2006 at 02:35 PM
Great e-mail!
C
Posted by: Chris Bracken | March 29, 2006 at 02:59 PM
hehe, great topic!
I had this eccentric corporate law professor who'd sign his emails with bits of trivia.
So...instead of "Thanks", he'd write "Terima Kasih (Malay for Thank You)" and stuff like;
“The first person who tasted a crab must also have tried a spider but realized that it was not as good to eat.” — Lu Xun (translation)",
....using about 15 different font colours for just that one sentence, and squiggly lines and everything.
He'd be a good marketer.
I dunno fellas, I am as conservative as the next bloke, but I never overlook, or forget, emails from this chap. It's always fun as well to see what he says next. I bet someone could code a script with rotating messages for email signatures...
Posted by: Daniel Nerezov | March 29, 2006 at 05:12 PM
Kind Regards - Sounds British so it must be polite
Posted by: Andrew Fife | March 29, 2006 at 07:39 PM
Regards
or
Kind regards
or
(informal)
pip pip
Posted by: rob | March 30, 2006 at 02:21 AM
All Martin Lukes readers (Financial Times, Thursdays) can appreciate the sign-offs "bestest" or "all my bestest".
BTW, I think your characterizations are right-on. I react poorly whenever I get an e-mail from an American that closes with "cheers." I'll make allowances for Brits.
Josh
Posted by: Josh | March 30, 2006 at 10:34 AM
As if I needed more things to be self-conscious about, thanks :)
Posted by: Jeff Nolan | March 30, 2006 at 01:49 PM
Daniel, when I was in college (back when we did email by logging into a unix server and using "elm" or "pine"), it seemed that inserting quotes or other tidbits in the email signature was fairly common, and in fact I wrote a script that randomly picked some text from a text file and inserted it into my email signature. The script ran every time I logged in, and I was always adding things to the text file, so my emails had a good variation of signatures.
Posted by: RC | March 30, 2006 at 01:49 PM
Seth:
I couldn't stop smiling at the accuracy of your characterization of the different signatures. I have used "Best" most often in the past few years and found it to be the best :)
Posted by: Vaibhav Domkundwar - iNods.com | April 02, 2006 at 01:49 AM
I rather like Geo. Washington's "I remain, your humble and obedient servant." But of course I don't generally write the Continental Congress.
Posted by: Greg | April 02, 2006 at 11:16 PM
I'm way too lazy to add a signature.
my mail client does it for me :)
Cheers (Yep! I'm blogging! : http://www.volkanozcelik.com/volkanozcelik/blog/
+> My projects/studies/trials/errors : http://www.sarmal.com/
+> Now with a portfolio: http://client.sarmal.com/
Posted by: volkan.ozcelik | April 04, 2006 at 07:05 AM
I always liked the signatures that quoted a Grateful Dead lyric, but working in enough corporate environments dissuaded me from laying too many cards on the table about my personal tastes. Hence my bland signoff.
Regards,
-Usher
(Which roughly means my regards are neither warm nor cold, they simply are what they are and you can refer above in my email for the fuller context.)
Posted by: Usher Lieberman | April 13, 2006 at 03:24 PM
Quite good, similar to what me think.
Posted by: mtv200流行音乐网站 | April 26, 2006 at 08:41 PM
Whatever happened to "Be well" - that was very popular for a while.
And despite your snide characterizations, all are better than
F* you,
Dave
Posted by: Dave Jilk | April 30, 2006 at 08:13 AM
Regards is very impersonal.
I like to end my messages with "Peace," if I am very familiar with that person and have a semi-informal relationship with them. I've just started getting into "Cheers."
"Thanks" with no emotion behind it is the worst.
Posted by: Pat Collins | May 02, 2006 at 11:57 AM
Seth,
What about "namaste" as a sign-off?
Namaste,
Peter
Posted by: Peter | May 20, 2006 at 04:36 PM