121–130 of 150 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The Italian word "ciao" [0] comes from the word "slave", meaning exactly that - "I am your humble servant". Became popular in Venice and then spread elsewhere. [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ciao
I'm born and raised in Italy and TIL. Makes sense, ciao -> sciao -> schiavo (slave). BTW, interesting fact: "The Venetian word for "slave", s-ciào [ˈstʃao] or s-ciàvo, derives from Medieval Latin sclavus, a loanword from Medieval Greek Σκλάβος, related to the ethnic "Slavic", since most of the slaves came from the Balkans." I'll be extremely sad if one day we'd have to lose the most common salutation because somebody…
I hate it when people use thanks for everything . What, you're thanking me for reading the email announcing the re-org? It reads as mindless and weird. I'm a "best" guy. It's never inappropriate. Whether I'm promoting you, firing you, reporting up on progress or problems, "best" always works. (I'm not saying it's the best closer in all situations, but if you hate thinking about closers, it's the best generic choice.…
“Best” is shorthand for wishing the other person well. Using it while firing someone could be seen (to use your words) as “mindless and weird”, a meaningless and reflexive dismissal which may rub the recipient the wrong way (“if you cared about what’s best for me, you wouldn’t have fired me”).
Earlier quoted context omitted.
"&c" is the archaic form of "etc", the ampersand being a ligature of "et" - Latin for "and". As far as I can tell the "&c." version was popularized by the 1944 novel "Anna and the King of Siam". So it literally means "I am, etc.", which I assume only expands to "I am your humble and obedient servant" in a humorous way. Might be taken the wrong way.
>"&c" is the archaic form of "etc", the ampersand being a ligature of "et" - Latin for "and". "etc" is an abbreviation for and contraction of "et cetera", Latin for "and so on". "&c" is, I think, an artifact of a particular time in history when writing skills were spreading rapidly but the process of writing itself was cumbersome and time consuming, necessitating macro-type abbreviations like that. It's not particula…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think "Best regards" is always acceptable. Inevitably though it comes from either a Brit or a non-native speaker. I really love the French and Spanish sign-offs... Cordialement or the very warm Un abrazo which I get from business associates in Spain. English "regards" seem very cold by comparison.
French sign-off for formal letters: "Veuillez agréer, Monsieur, l'expression de mes sentiments les plus agréeables" (Please be so good as to accept, Sir, the expression of my warmest feelings) Well, that's what they told me at school - they were trying to teach me how to write business letters. It has always cracked me up. /me not French.
I once wrote both an employee’s resignation and my acceptance for the conditions of it (on his request for both, he’s non-native), and it was awkward to try to find a valediction that doesn’t put him as inferior.
Language is a treasure.
Doesn't "thanks" imply a request was made, and "best" imply the end of a conversation? Did they just analyze a bunch of emails blind?
I've never seen 'best' in an email, but I have seen 'cheers,' which I always think is odd. I end all emails with 'thanks,' regardless of content.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The Italian word "ciao" [0] comes from the word "slave", meaning exactly that - "I am your humble servant". Became popular in Venice and then spread elsewhere. [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ciao
I'm born and raised in Italy and TIL. Makes sense, ciao -> sciao -> schiavo (slave). BTW, interesting fact: "The Venetian word for "slave", s-ciào [ˈstʃao] or s-ciàvo, derives from Medieval Latin sclavus, a loanword from Medieval Greek Σκλάβος, related to the ethnic "Slavic", since most of the slaves came from the Balkans." I'll be extremely sad if one day we'd have to lose the most common salutation because somebody…
shh don't give ideas to bored twitter "activists"!
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I just don't think there's all that much difference in meaning between these common formulaic responses. My father agrees, and for a time his standard greeting to colleagues were these words: "Friendly Noise" I've tried it a few times. I get strange looks at first, but people adopt.
On moving to the UK and for the first time using English "full time" it took me longer than it should have to get used to "how are you?" as merely a "friendly noise". At first I found it incredibly rude how people would ask me a question and then keep walking while I stopped to start answering their question.
That said even when it was a question it was expected that you replied something along the lines of "I'm good thanks, you?". Unless it was a good friend you never replied negatively, though if you had good news it was fine to expand.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
My English teacher thought that "Regards" sounds rude (like starting your emails with "John," instead of "Dear John,") and that one should always use "Best regards" instead. Seems like there's a lot of nuance here.
The previous workplace of mine sets the signatures of my email to start with "Kind regards", and I continue to use it after I left that workplace. I now take a freelance job, and if the contact person isn't really nice to me, I would simply sign "Regards" (not "Kind", as my mood isn't really kind). Glad to hear that it can be viewed as a less polite form.
By coincidence, the passive-aggressive "Thanks in advance" is also the one I'm most likely to report spam on.
– "Can you send me the foo report?"
– "Sure here it is"
– "Thanks"
– "No worries"
If someone says 'thanks in advance', I presume it's to soften the lack of reply so I don't think it's rude. Also means I don't need to acknowledge their thanks email & we can move it from a 4 email conversation to a 2 email one.
Between colleagues that are already dealing with a lot of email I'm all in favour. (Assuming I already have a decent relationship with this person)