Salutations And Sign-Offs

[BlotBot]

Miss Manners recently discussed the appropriateness of the rather old-fashioned sign-offs, "Yours truly" and "Sincerely yours".

 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/miss-manners-yours-truly-is-not-an-expression-of-love/2014/01/25/56e0b5cc-8522-11e3-9dd4-e7278db80d86_story.html

 

I find the traditional salutation of "Dear" and the traditional sign-offs to be rather romantic in feeling, and not really suitable for most modern correspondence (even though Valentine's Day is just around the corner). I prefer "Hello" and "Toodles" for my personal correspondence, and "Regards" for business correspondence.

 

What do you prefer? Any particular preferences for the more romantic letters?

[Ursus]

I personally like Dear... Yours sincerely. I don't find the "Dear" old fashioned or overly intimate at all - and it is used in so many different situations anyway. Yous sincerely may be a little old fashioned but nothing like the Danish version which is just about impossible to use today. In Denmark the hideous "With friendly greeting" is now seen everywhere, in formal as well as informal letters, and I simply hate it.

 

I think that a letter should show both respect and a personal touch and in my opinion Dear does both. In very formal letters the highest degree of politeness should always be used, but otherwise one has the terrible choice of finding an appropriate final greeting. The rather brainless Yours sincerely was really beautifully simple and made the writing of letters a lot easier. Now we have to invent all kinds of stuff and make endless choices all the time; and if we make the wrong choice we will hurt people or just not be taken seriously.

[pajaro]

I like the traditional courtesies of "Dear so and so," and "Yours truly" because they are the little formalities of everyday correspondence. Today's "Hi" etc. are ignorant.

 

In email responses I do as the correspondents have done, to not make them uncomfortable, the point of courtesies being to grease the wheels.

[Funkmon]

Ignorance is not a person's lack of culture, but a person's lack of knowledge. These people know how to construct a letter you'd appreciate, but they don't because they are low class, not ignorant.

[sargetalon]

I like the traditional courtesies of "Dear so and so," and "Yours truly" because they are the little formalities of everyday correspondence. Today's "Hi" etc. are ignorant.

 

In email responses I do as the correspondents have done, to not make them uncomfortable, the point of courtesies being to grease the wheels.

 

+1

[Freddy]

 

Anyhow..Welcome Aboard! BlotBot..enjoy your time here..........

 

Fred

[Runnin_Ute]

Dear xxxx,

 

is the most common opening I use, but occasionally I will dispense with the Dear and just use the person's name.

 

prior to the close I will sometimes use what could be used as a "pre-close" - "Until later" Until later my friend" something like that.

Regards is the most common I use in letters, but on occasion will use something like Sincerely

[NubeAzul]

I don't think that in Spain we use anything like "Dear" when writing to a friend (at least I never did, as it sounds ancient), but I use "Estimado" when writing formal letters, which is some sort of "Esteemed". But when I write to my foreign friends, I always use "Dear". I've never thought it could have some romantic connotation.

Edited February 12, 2014 by NubeAzul

[Sasha Royale]

My dear Blotbot,

 

Letter writing predates our present culture. It is to our detriment that we, in our laziness, redefine

terms to new connotations that alter our intended declarations. Sometimes, we reverse the meaning

of a word to mean the opposite of the standard meaning. I believe that such perversion of the

language results in people killing one another for irrational reasons.

 

The terms, cited above, are, indeed, formal rather than romantic. For personal correspondence

with my friends, I mostly write as I speak.

" Hoooha, Brother Bob ! " and " With deepest affection and bacon fat ......." , Sasha .

 

Very truly yours,

S.R.P.I.D.

 

*************************************

 

Now, did my salutation make you feel like I am "hitting" on you ? Are you stimulated within your loins ?

How about the closing ? Does it seem like a declaration of eternal devotion ? I hope not. They are the

opening and closing of the letter received from a fountain pen retailer.

 

Since most of your handwritten letters will be personal, you should use language that is familiar between

yourself and your friends.

 

Pears and fried chicken to you.

[BlotBot]

My dear Blotbot,

 

Letter writing predates our present culture. It is to our detriment that we, in our laziness, redefine

terms to new connotations that alter our intended declarations. Sometimes, we reverse the meaning

of a word to mean the opposite of the standard meaning. I believe that such perversion of the

language results in people killing one another for irrational reasons.

 

The terms, cited above, are, indeed, formal rather than romantic. For personal correspondence

with my friends, I mostly write as I speak.

" Hoooha, Brother Bob ! " and " With deepest affection and bacon fat ......." , Sasha .

 

Very truly yours,

S.R.P.I.D.

 

*************************************

 

Now, did my salutation make you feel like I am "hitting" on you ? Are you stimulated within your loins ?

How about the closing ? Does it seem like a declaration of eternal devotion ? I hope not. They are the

opening and closing of the letter received from a fountain pen retailer.

 

Since most of your handwritten letters will be personal, you should use language that is familiar between

yourself and your friends.

 

Pears and fried chicken to you.

The salutation "My dear" does not strike me as romantic, it does however strike me as overly familiar and somewhat condescending. Something that one would use in a letter to a young niece perhaps. I tend to think of it as a British phrase, so I as a Yank, I would not normally see it.

 

And this got me thinking.... Maybe we are not receiving enough formal letters to desensitize (at least some of us) to the literal meaning of the words? Most business letters I receive usually start "Ms. Blotbot:" Maybe a bit cold, but certainly not overly familiar. But then I usually have never met the signatory, if the signatory is even a real person.

 

Toodles

[Funkmon]

Words are silly. Greetings change. Our greetings will seem wildly archaic 70 years from now. Blotbot, you, for example, used the term Yank, short for Yankee. Yankee was originally developed as a derisive term for those from New England. It is wildly insulting in its original form, and even came to be a verb, to Yankee, that is, to cheat.

 

And now we use it regularly. So, meh. Words change. We can fight it, but there is an unending treadmill of terms for the same stuff, and it's never going to end.

[BlotBot]

Recent business correspondence:

 

"Hello Blotbot,

 

.......

Thanks again for your business! You're helping us do what we love, and for that we thank you!!

Write On,
Brian and Rachel Goulet
The Goulet Pen Company"

 

Yikes!

[mboschm]

Now I find myself writing letters of motivation for Master's and job applications and I find myself using, in english "Dear Mr Bloggs", "Dear Sir or Madam", and "yours sincerely" and "yours faithfully" (I speak/write closer to british english). If I'm writing to someone I've exchanged several e-mails with I go with "Dear Mr Bloggs" or "Hello Mr Bloggs" if he writes very informally (I tend to match my correspondent, speaking a little bit more formally if he's somehow superior to me) and "Kind regards". In catalan, it's "Benvolguts" (litterally "well-wished ones", but equivalent to "Dear Sir or Madam") or "Benvolgut Senyor Fulano" (Dear Mr Bloggs) and "Atentament" (somewhere between yours sincerely and Kind regards).

Edited February 12, 2014 by mboschm

[mboschm]

However, even if it is very informal, I make it a point on having a salutation and sign off even if it's "Hey!" and "See ya!"

[Paddler]

Here is one of mine for the winter season:

 

 

"So saying, I remain thine in snow and rime, by the sintered copper pate of King Lent and the loincloth of Ninib the Smiter:

 

MCR>

Abstractor of the Quintessence

Order of the Digital Grail"

[Sasha Royale]

The salutation "My dear" does not strike me as romantic, it does however strike me as overly familiar and somewhat condescending. Something that one would use in a letter to a young niece perhaps. I tend to think of it as a British phrase, so I as a Yank, I would not normally see it.

 

And this got me thinking.... Maybe we are not receiving enough formal letters to desensitize (at least some of us) to the literal meaning of the words? Most business letters I receive usually start "Ms. Blotbot:" Maybe a bit cold, but certainly not overly familiar. But then I usually have never met the signatory, if the signatory is even a real person.

 

Toodles

 

"TOODLES" ? In my native language, that is an invitation to marry your youngest daughter.

[85AKbN]

I always liked the letter read aloud by Harve Presnell, who played General George C. Marshall in Saving Private Ryan, and the closing line from Abraham Lincoln's letter:

 

Yours very sincerely and respectfully.

Edited February 13, 2014 by 85AKbN

[DC Kate]

Formal correspondence: "Dear" and "Sincerely"

 

Informal: anything from "Dear" to "Hello!" to "Hiya" to "Grrrrrrl how u doin'?" and "Warm Regards" to "Best" to "XOXO" to just signing off with my initials ("-KLG") if I am unhappy with you

[Ursus]

 

...to just signing off with my initials ("-KLG") if I am unhappy with you

 

Do you think that it will make people cry: "Oh no! I've been initialized!"

[requiescat]

Formal correspondence "Dear so-and-so" and "Sincerely, Fullname." In correspondence with editors and my agent "Hello" or "Hi" is common for a salutation, or "Regards" or "Best," etc. for a closing, so I just follow suit if they want to go that way.

 

If the editor is someone I've worked with for a while to the point where we get informal with each other, then I will sometimes sign off with "Best,

YHL" rather than my full name.

 

In personal correspondence, I will use anything from "Dear" to "Howdy" (I was born in Houston). There are a few particularly close friends for whom I reserve special signoffs that hold a meaning to both of us; otherwise it's usually some variant of "Best wishes" or "Cheers."

 

But if I'm unsure, I stick with "Dear" and "Sincerely."