Etiquette!
I was writing a letter that was going to go out to a group of European professionals, and I decided to add a "Cheers!" to the end of it. Cheers is the equivalent of thanks in English English, though I still feel like a bit of a poseur when I say it.
Anyway, I asked a colleague to look over the draft of my letter before sending it out, and this person strongly suggested I remove the ! from the end of my Cheers. Why? "It's considered very... American," I was told. "And not in a good way." In other words, in the gas-guzzling land yacht, fat child in tow, loud, obnoxious sense of American. So I deleted the offending punctuation. Does that make me un-American? NO!!!!
Anyway, I asked a colleague to look over the draft of my letter before sending it out, and this person strongly suggested I remove the ! from the end of my Cheers. Why? "It's considered very... American," I was told. "And not in a good way." In other words, in the gas-guzzling land yacht, fat child in tow, loud, obnoxious sense of American. So I deleted the offending punctuation. Does that make me un-American? NO!!!!
posted by Mrs. Werbenmanjensen at 9:16 PM
3 Comments:
Wow... I would be very offending there, then. That is very interesting... good thing I don't email any Brits!!!! :)
Well, how else would you say "Cheers"? I always pictured it being said in an enthusiastic manner with a big smile on the face of the speaker. I think an ! is a perfect punctuation mark for that particular sentiment. But, you used good judgment. I would like to think being American includes some sense of compromise.
No, never use an exclamation mark after cheers at the end of a mail. It just gives the impression you might of started dribbling uncontrollably, or that you're just too damn enthusiastic. We don't want that!
Cheers
N
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