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Original poster

What do you think these sign offs really mean?

59 replies

SuperintendentHastings · 05/04/2021 11:13

When signing off from an email? We have varying answers in my house, so interested in other opinions. And yes, we're a bit bored ...

Yours

Best wishes

Kind regards

Faithfully

Regards

Sincerely

Respectfully

I look forward to hearing from you

Initial only i.e. 'H'

OP posts:
FortunesFave · 05/04/2021 11:14

Who writes 'respectfully" any more?

Watto1 · 05/04/2021 11:14

Dropping the ‘kind’ from ‘kind regards’ translates as ‘I am really pissed off with you’

MrsFin · 05/04/2021 11:16

I don't think any of them "mean" anything - they are just space fillers.

I just write Mrs Fin at the end of my emails.

Sparklingbrook · 05/04/2021 11:17

I do initial only to family. Might do a 'kind regards' to a company etc Or 'Thanks' if I've had a reply.

'I look forward to hearing from you' sounds a bit 'you had better reply asap' to me.

BeakyWinder · 05/04/2021 11:18

Kind regards = formal but neutral
Regards = I am furious, you are an incompetent idiot.

BeakyWinder · 05/04/2021 11:20

I rarely see sincerely, faithfully etc.

I sign off thanks, or many thanks usually for internal/people I know. Strangers get kind regards.

Ifailed · 05/04/2021 11:21

I never bothered with them, people can see who the email came from.

UhtredRagnarson · 05/04/2021 11:23

I always get very nervous when signing off an email because I know some people think they’re a secret code but I have no idea what the code is so I worry I’m telling someone to go fall off a cliff or something Grin

WhoWants2Know · 05/04/2021 11:25

I use regards if I feel I have to use anything, but if it's to a coworker where I have a familiar relationship then I just use my name.

idontlikealdi · 05/04/2021 11:25

I don't think any if those are necessary on an email.

BarbaraofSeville · 05/04/2021 11:26

Meaningless fillers that everyone interpretes differently, so no point at all deciding that it means anything. Just like kisses and emojis in texts.

EastWestWhosBest · 05/04/2021 11:27

I would only use sincerely and faithfully in a letter, and then a formal letter like a job application.

Other than that it rather depends on who I was emailing and why.

ANewDawnANewDay · 05/04/2021 11:28

Mine are usually 'regards'.

If I am begging for a favour, it becomes 'kind regards'.

Initial only if the mail chain is long and with close team.

Superstardjs · 05/04/2021 11:29

I use Kind Regards mostly as that is the one everyone else uses but if I am batting emails back and forth I don't put anything. I like to think it signifies my boredom and indifference as they could have phoned me and resolved the matter without wasting my typing energy.

SpamIAm · 05/04/2021 11:29

I use regards to my boss because I hate him 😂

Faithfully and respectfully would be a bit weird these days but wouldn't think much of any of the others.

FontyMcFontface · 05/04/2021 11:30

Very best wishes = you’re fucking awesome and I couldn’t live my life without you.

Best wishes = I like you, you did a good job.

Kind regards = I know you less well but think you and your work are ok

Regards = I am absolutely fucking furious

No sign off at all, just a name = see you in court

ANewDawnANewDay · 05/04/2021 11:31

If it's to school or something, then I put 'best wishes' or 'kind regards' - just being polite.
'Love' for family.

FontyMcFontface · 05/04/2021 11:31

Respectfully = you’re an absolute clown

Merename · 05/04/2021 11:31

I’d only do faithfully or sincerely on a very formal letter these days, never an email.

Best wishes for me is friendly, I often do ‘warm wishes’, when I feel warmth or want to show ‘I am trying to connect with you’ - interested in your family analysis of that!!

Do one initial often within the team and with people I know well, for speed. Or if an email conversation goes on over the day with someone external and there’s no need for sign off anymore.

My generic go to is thanks, thanks so much, many thanks, I don’t really like kind regards or regards. Not sure why - because it’s not normal speech maybe?

And my personal hate is ‘best’ on its own. Lazy and grammatically daft!

FontyMcFontface · 05/04/2021 11:32

Love for close friends or love + initial.

Initial is familiar.

I know someone who signs ‘best’ - which I can’t figure out

RichardMarxisinnocent · 05/04/2021 11:32

@UhtredRagnarson

I always get very nervous when signing off an email because I know some people think they’re a secret code but I have no idea what the code is so I worry I’m telling someone to go fall off a cliff or something Grin
I agree. I have signed off with Regards for the 20 plus years I have been using email at work. I had no idea until a couple of years ago that it supposedly has a hidden meaning. I have carried on using it in emails to people I know and who I have either already emailed a lot or who I probably will email again in future. I figure they either already know it has no secret meaning and is just my standard sign off, or will soon realise that. For people I have never met and who I probably won't email again, or will only email rarely, I do sometimes use Kind Regards just in case they assume Regards means I hate them.
ANewDawnANewDay · 05/04/2021 11:33

FontyMcFontface everyone at my work is fucking furious with everyone all the time! It's 'regards' all the way!! Grin

Chemenger · 05/04/2021 11:34

I use most of them fairly randomly. I don’t read read them on emails I receive. You can use “Regards” as much as you like to express displeasure with me, but it will have no effect. Equally you can finish a text with a full stop and I will not care.

The exception would be “Respectfully” which I would use to emphasise something disrespectful in the preceding message, if I was very annoyed. It means “you are an idiot but I am nicely brought up”.

Original poster
SuperintendentHastings · 05/04/2021 11:38

Equally you can finish a text with a full stop and I will not care.

FFS is THIS a thing now too? Are texts not supposed to be punctuated now? I can't keep up ...

OP posts:
Evergibbon · 05/04/2021 11:39

Regards = I want you dead by tea time