FWIW I wouldn’t ever sign-off a business email with just ‘Regards’. Sounds a bit abrupt. I’d always finish with ‘Best Regards’ or ‘Kind Regards’. I can’t decide which and tend to rotate them, but I’m leaning towards ‘Kind Regards’ cos it makes me sound less like Maggie Thatcher.
When a deal is particularly contentious, I sometimes drop the “Best.” I’m sure that act of defiance carries the same weight as comply or suffer.
My brother signs his emails with “Warm Regards”. Sounds better than “Kind regards” to me. I had a boss that always signed “Best Wishes”, but most people I know tend to just sign “thanks”.
I use those three interchangably, depending on who I’m writing to and why. Occasionally, I will pull out the old “sincerely” as well. In French, it’s minor variations of the totally meaningless “je vous prie d’agréer Madame, Monsieur, mes salutations distinguées”
This thread has made me realise I have lots of rules, some traditional and some not.
In business, if it’s a formal letter or email and it’s “Sir/Madam” then I finish it “Yours sincerely”. If it begins “Dear Mr/Ms Doe” then I finish it “Yours faithfully”.
If it’s a regular work contact email then I end with “Regards” or “Best regards” (kind or warm sound weird to me). If it’s someone I work with, I use their first name (with “Dear”, “Hi” or “Hey” depending on how well I get on with them and how old they are) and finish with “Cheers”.
Damn, I got my own rule wrong. Sir/madam ends “Yours faithfully” and Mr/Ms Doe ends “Yours sincerely” - ancient British rule.
Just FWIW, the phrase in question is an example of the “complimentary close”. The structure of a letter is:
Date
Recipient’s name and address (in a business letter)
Salutation
Body
Complimentary Close
Signature
cc: (carbon copy), if any
encl: (enclosures) if any
Kids these days…
I think it adds meaning, in fact it makes me think of Shodan as a polite gentleman. I had a co-worker who always signed off with “Cheers” and he seemed polite and good-natured.
I think the etiquette of a letter is far more formal than an email. My above rule changes to “Ladies and Gentlemen:” for the salutation of a letter to unknown or multiple recipients, and “Very truly yours,” for the complimentary close.
(I originally wrote opening and close, but on preview, I adopted jsc1953’s definitions to avoid a reprimand :))
I love how, in more genteel times, this phrase would be used regardless of the letter’s content. You could challenge someone to a duel, and close with “I remain you obedient servant.”
I know a guy who starts message board posts with “Salutations, gentlefolk”.
And I’ll take “Comply or suffer” as an update on “Tremble and obey!”, the classic close to imperial Chinese decrees. British monarchs used to favor the milder “Hereof fail not at your peril.”
I’m partial to “So let it be written…so let it be done.”, myself.
*whispers
It’s a ruse man, it’s a ruse…*
I shall end all my future correspondance with, “This letter is coming to an end, here is my name.”
Greetings, program!
I do it on occasion as a way of showing respect.
Exactly! There’s a lot of correspondence between military officers on opposite sides during the American Revolution and the Civil War, for instance, using that closing or variations on it. They weren’t really each others’ “obedient servants.” Far from it.
That also reminds me of an (apocryphal) letter by Ben Franklin to a British friend during the Revolution. Franklin complained of various British depredations in the colonies and closed with,
*You are now my enemy and I am
Yours,
B. Franklin*
Classic.
Excellent. Can I appropriate that?
Warm Regards,
Surly
What about in Jane Austen books, where they would say “I remain your obedient servant, etc.” Did she say “etc.” because folks would know what that stood for, or she was teasing that they wrote all that crap, or they actually wrote, “etc.”???
Once that particularly elaborate closing was well-established in society, truncated versions ending with “etc.” or “&tc.” would sometimes be used, especially if the writer was pressed for time, or if the letter was one of a series back and forth between the same two people. I’ve seen many examples in my reading of history.