Wednesday, October 01, 2003

Reading between the lines: Pito's Guide to Email salutations. Ok, the previous post got me thinking about the various conventional choices of opening and closing salutations and what their inner meaning is. For your benefit and critique, here's Pito's Guide to Email Salutations. Greetings "Hi Jane," -- the default, casual, email business greeting. "" -- No greeting is some people's default, and so shows no special meaning. "Dear Jane," -- often received from people from other countries (e.g. Europe) and always used in response to someone who sent you and email opening with "Dear Jane". Occasionally used for affectionate emails, but really you shouldn't use email for that. "Jane:" -- Often used to indicate that you are rushed or insistent or annoyed. "R U There?" -- Used in instant messaging. Also "Are you there, R U Free, etc." Closings "Regards," -- The default, casual, email business closing. "Best Regards," -- Somewhat more formal, used to indicate respect or sucking up. "Best," -- Hybrid, used to indicate a closer personal relationship while not appearing to suck up. "Love," -- Reserved for emails to parents and intimate relationships "Bye" -- Used in instant messaging. Also "Later, cya, l8r, c u later."   11:05:50 AM  >  trackback []   comment []

I am having an idenitity crisis: Salutations in email. I was raised to be polite. Maybe that's why, 3 zillion emails later, I still start every email with "Hi Joe" and end it with "Pito." It seems to get ridiculous when you are back and forthing on an email with a two word sentence and still have a "Hi Joe" and a "Bye Joe." Also, when dealing with certain other cultures the salutation becomes "Dear." Yes, not only was I raised to be polite, but I also grew up to be compulsive :-) I've toyed with the idea of dropping the "Hi Joe" (considering that logically and compulsively, the email form does include a very clear To: Joe field.) but keeping the closing salutation. Hmmmmmmmm. Would that be rude? 10:57:49 AM  >  trackback []   comment []

BlogBridge has a web site. Just in time for BloggerCon, I thought I'd whip this up. It's totally minimal but will be growing over time. 8:44:59 AM  >  trackback []   comment []