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| (4wordathome.com) |
Some e-mails are easier to write than others.
Friends and family rarely get a formal salutation, and usually end with “xoxo, Liz.” E-mail to a classmate usually starts with “Hi” and ends with “-Liz”. If I’m lucky enough to have a vacation or holiday coming up, I’ll finish with a “Have a great Thanksgiving! Liz” and be done with it.
As the recipients get more formal, it gets more complicated. If I’m e-mailing a professor, I need a salutation. But which one? “Hi” seems too informal, but “Hello” sounds like I have no idea who they are. And “Dear” sounds like I’m about to invite them to my 8th birthday party. I also have to figure out what to call them. If they have a PhD, will they be offended if I call them “Professor” instead of “Doctor”? Then I can’t remember if they have a PhD or not, so I have to stalk the department’s Web site to find their CV.
Three hours after clicking “Compose Mail,” I can write the e-mail. But how do I sign it? I know I should use my full name, but deciding what phrase to put is problematic. “Best” seems stuffy, “xoxo” is clearly out of the question and just signing my name sounds too informal. I generally end up using “Thanks!” because by then it’s midnight and I still haven’t cracked a book because I’ve spent all night writing this stupid e-mail.
And this problem doesn’t just plague college students. According to Monday’s New York Times, the problem of how to sign e-mails has become a problem in the business world as well.
While the article doesn’t provide the one final answer, it has a few clues that can help us all devote a little less time to composing e-mail signatures.
Judith Kallos, creator of NetManners.com, told the Times that the best approach is to adhere to the “highest degree of formality until the other person indicates otherwise.”
So there is no right answer. Try to be as formal as you can without sounding like you’re writing to your Congressman (unless you are). And under absolutely no circumstances are you to sign an e-mail to someone with whom you’ve just had a first date with “best.”
Thanks/Sincerely/Best/xoxo/
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November 28th, 2006 at 7:46 pm
I wish professors would state on the first day how they’d like to be addressed, especially when they end their emails with initials.
November 28th, 2006 at 10:06 pm
sas webmail would log off your message after 5 minutes of composing, guess most people have given up on it.
November 29th, 2006 at 8:45 am
“Thanks!” makes you sound obsequious. “Thanks.” is a better choice; it says, “You know I don’t really want to talk to you and I know you don’t really want to talk to me, so let’s get this over with.”