Ending a letter/email with "best"

[thelurkinghorror]

Lately I've been noticing people sign off in emails like this:

Hi Bob,

Hope everything is going well.

Best,

Alice

I know one person who does it, then noticed several more over the last few weeks. What is this supposed to mean, an abbreviation of "best wishes" or something? It just looks a bit unnatural to me.

Do you use this? Why? Is it common in certain places? I don't think the individuals in question are from the same region or culture.

[Fritz]

Best Wishes or Best Regards, I think. I still use Best Regards a lot. I think I picked it up when communicating with colleagues from England.

[Surly Chick]

I use it because I am the best...

[In Winnipeg]

Best Wishes, Best Regards, All the Best (to you), etc.

Terribly civilized, isn't it?

[Chessic Sense]

I hope all the best things in the world happen to you,

Chessic Sense

[Sigmagirl]

I hate it. My boss does it, and I think she it is prissy.

[Colibri]

I use it occasionally. It's just short for Best Regards.

[NetTrekker]

My internet-school prof's were all doing this, almost like they were instructed to. Either 'All the best' or just 'Best'; both sound affected to me.

[aesop]

I've seen senior staff do it on occasion. And one of my colleagues does it regularly. I agree it seems affected. If you're too busy to write "regards" then why waste all that time writing out B-e-s-t. Just slap a "B" down there and be done with it...

B

Aesop

[purplehorseshoe]

"Best." It's quick and easy to type, it's warmer than "Sincerely," but not as intimate as "Hugs!" and it translates into the shorhand for a lot of colloquial sign-offs, such as those In Winnipeg listed. Never thought it sounded affected, not to my ears. (Eyes?)

Need an alternative?
At work, I send a bazillion emails a day, many of which are not requests but simply confirmation that X has been done, so "Thanks, Purple" isn't the way to go, since, really, I've nothing to be grateful for, as I'm the one who's done the work. "Have a nice day" is a tad formal and dry for me, so I've been using "Cheers! Purple" as a standard sign-off. Sounds friendly without being too intimate, methinks, and no one's said otherwise.

[Mr. Excellent]

I prefer that folks sign their letters to me with "Your obedient servant," but that's just me. :D

[Shot From Guns]

If you're too busy to write "regards" then why waste all that time writing out B-e-s-t. Just slap a "B" down there and be done with it...

If you're too busy to write out "I give you my best regards," why bother writing the letter at all? :rolleyes:

Anything formulaic is going to be prone to shortening, especially as the communication gets more casual.

[Skammer]

Sounds weird to me. Either use nothing before my signature, or often "Regards". For friends I might use "Take care". I've been known to use "Fervently yours" if I want to be funny.

[capybara]

I think Europeans use it a lot-- it's the standard in Dutch, if memory of experience serves correctly. Not considered inordinately informal-- friendly semi-formal.

[Maeglin]

I'm an American, and I've closed with "best" for as long as I've had emails.

It would not be the first time I've been called prissy, I suppose.

[olivesmarch4th]

This seems incredibly common in academia, and I have mostly noticed it used among males. My professors, my husband's professors and Sr. Olives himself (as a TA) uses it. Another common one is ''Warmly.''

I don't feel particularly strongly about it one way or another.

[Perciful]

This seems incredibly common in academia, and I have mostly noticed it used among males. My professors, my husband's professors and Sr. Olives himself (as a TA) uses it. Another common one is ''Warmly.''

I don't feel particularly strongly about it one way or another.

I have seen Warmly or Best Regards but never best alone.

Best what? It seems stunted.

[twickster]

There are three ways I sign off on emails: "thanks," "love," and "best." I thus end up using "best" a lot as the default when neither of the other two is appropriate.

[aesop]

If you're too busy to write out "I give you my best regards," why bother writing the letter at all? :rolleyes:


Because I use email at work to convey messages that are necessary, relevant and important. Unlike my postings on a message board. ;)

[Patty O'Furniture]

If you're too busy to write "regards" then why waste all that time writing out B-e-s-t. Just slap a "B" down there and be done with it...

B

Aesop

This is already happening. I know people who use the following email valedictions:

/R for regards

B/R for best regards

W/R for warm regards

[legalsnugs]

Is it the whole texting thing, then? MSE (Must shorten everything)? I just saw a message where the sender wishes the receiver an "HBD." [massive eyeroll *ouch*] I mean, how little can someone mean to you if you can't even write out a whole two words to wish someone well on their birthday?

[madmonk28]

I and almost everyone I have ever worked with since the 90s has closed their emails with Best (American, east coast). It is beyond common in my industry, it is the absolute norm.

[olivesmarch4th]

I have seen Warmly or Best Regards but never best alone.

Best what? It seems stunted.
It's easy to judge someone as not taking the time to show they care, but try to look at it from your average prof's perspective. I'm guessing your average professional gets between 50-100 e-mails a day, and many are expected to respond immediately in addition to doing the rest of their work duties. No reason to take it personally if they use a curt sign-off line -- your e-mail is most likely just something they need to cross off the ''to do'' list.

[Maeglin]

I am a stunted person, so to use anything other than a stunted closing would be dishonest.

In a perfect world I'd use "Yours &c", but people tend to get confused by that.

[not_alice]

I use it for none of the reasons listed above - instead I mean for it to plant a positive seed of association in the readers mind. Whatever is "best" to him or her, I don't care, but I like that they think of that at the same time they see my name next.

It is definitely not shorthand for "Best regards" in my case, although I will use that on rare occasion when that is what I mean to say.

[matt_mcl]

It's easy to judge someone as not taking the time to show they care, but try to look at it from your average prof's perspective. I'm guessing your average professional gets between 50-100 e-mails a day, and many are expected to respond immediately in addition to doing the rest of their work duties. No reason to take it personally if they use a curt sign-off line -- your e-mail is most likely just something they need to cross off the ''to do'' list.

Even if the person isn't hurried, an e-mail simply doesn't follow full letter etiquette, except for (say) a first e-mail to someone you don't know. As the exchange goes on, it gets closer and closer to a conversation/exchange of text messages. As that progression continues, the complimentary close shrivels until finally it disappears altogether.

It would just be strange to trade e-mails ending each one with "Yours sincerely," as you do in an exchange of letters.

[thelurkinghorror]

It's easy to judge someone as not taking the time to show they care, but try to look at it from your average prof's perspective. I'm guessing your average professional gets between 50-100 e-mails a day, and many are expected to respond immediately in addition to doing the rest of their work duties. No reason to take it personally if they use a curt sign-off line -- your e-mail is most likely just something they need to cross off the ''to do'' list.

They could make a signature line that is as long or as short as they want, and then append it automatically to each email. This would add zero seconds to each email, unless you count the initial time of crafting the signature file.

[Chronos]

Personally, I usually just use a dash right before my name. It's quick, easy, can't be taken the wrong way, and it gets the job done.

--Chronos

[SanVito]

I use it occasionally. I struggle with how to sign-off business emails. Emails are so much less formal than a letter and yet... there still needs to be some formality in business chat. So, depending on my relationship to the reader, I will use a sliding scale of formality:

Kind Regards (most formal)
Best Regards
Best
Thanks
Cheers (least formal)

I'm British, if that's relevant.

[Wallenstein]

Another Brit here - most of my customer emails end "with best regards", or "many thanks" if I'm requesting information.

I've found a lot of people - colleagues and customers - now include "Regards, Last Name" as part of their email signature, so they hammer out and email and fire it away with a standard ending.