Signing emails with "Best"

[ELM616]

Anybody else notice how lots of professors and staff in academia like to sign their emails with "Best".

 

It drives me batshit crazy!! I don't know why, maybe because it seems like such a snide and insincere way to sign an email.

 

Maybe we can start somekind of movement to eliminate the practice of signing emails with Best.

[wanderingalbatross]

My reaction is always, "Best what?"

[fuzzylogician]

I fail to see the problem.

[ELM616]

I fail to see the problem.

I bet you're one of the ones who does it then   

[fuzzylogician]

I bet you're one of the ones who does it then   

 

Everybody does it. It's like saying 'have a great day!' to service providers or signing your email with '(warm) regards.' It's a polite communications convention. Trust me, you wouldn't like it if everyone signed the email with what they really think about you! Don't you think you're reading too much into this?

[radiomars]

Everybody does it. It's like saying 'have a great day!' to service providers or signing your email with '(warm) regards.' It's a polite communications convention. Trust me, you wouldn't like it if everyone signed the email with what they really think about you! Don't you think you're reading too much into this?

 

Seconded.

[ELM616]

No no I'm not reading much into it. Its just one of my pet peeves that I've noticed is ubiquitious in academia. Would love to see others who may share my disdain for it.

 

-Best

Edited June 1, 2013 by ELM616

[Eigen]

It's how I sign about 40% of my e-mails. 

 

The others are "Thanks" and "Cheers!". Best fits where the others don't. 

[rising_star]

I use "Regards" or "Sincerely" for formal emails and "Best" or "Cheers" for less formal emails. I use "Best" to mean "All the best", which by the way is not a snide thing to say to or wish for someone. There's really only so many ways to sign emails or other correspondence. If you find one offensive, then don't use it. But I doubt you're going to change the way everyone else does it, even if you took out a full page ad in the New York Times.

[ELM616]

even if you took out a full page ad in the New York Times.

 

OOOOh I like the way you're thinking

[Pitangus]

It's how I sign about 40% of my e-mails. 

 

The others are "Thanks" and "Cheers!". Best fits where the others don't. 

 

Same here. "Thanks," or "Thank you," when the email includes a question or request. "Best," when it's just a response.

I use "Cheers" with a few people I know personally and in a friendly way.

[Arrowfletch]

Currently, my habit is to always sign with Thanks or Thank you when emailing professors.  With other people I know or students, I usually forgo a sign off and just put my name.  I've only known one professor to use "best"--most don't bother at all--but it doesn't bother me.  It isn't really an important part of the email, it just sounds too curt sometimes when it's left out entirely.

[dat_nerd]

I like to sign with "kind regards". It's friendly, simple, and professional.

[msmith1990]

There are a whole lot of things with which to be dissatisfied in academia, but this one seems to be pretty harmless. I also note that you have yet to offer an alternative.

[33andathirdRPM]

Dear OP,

 

I fear that you're worrying too much about letter sign offs.

 

Best,

 

33 1/3

Edited June 1, 2013 by 33andathirdRPM

[1Q84]

I use best to sign off almost exclusively.

 

Oops.

[Ambigiousbuthopeful]

Despite being widely accepted as convention I agree that 'Best' sounds strange. I presume I will get used to it eventually but until then it sounds weirdly truncated, curt and stiffly professional. I prefer All the best, Thanks and (warm) regards. 

Edited June 1, 2013 by Ambigiousbuthopeful

[danieleWrites]

I don't have a problem with it, but I can see why it's annoying. It's slang at worst and jargon at best, which makes it too informal for professional communication. "Best" does not express the full thought, leaving the reader to choose a completed thought for themselves. Best wishes? Best of luck? Best Buy? What? Frankly, it's lazy, but academia does have its own version of corporatespeak.

[aberrant]

Hi OP,

 

Like others have mentioned, it seems to be pretty common to use "Best" for "Best regards", "Sincerely yours / Yours sincerely", in a relatively less formal way. My POV would be somewhat similar to Eigen's comment, that number, though, may depends on region and the background of the writers (professors).

 

Cheers (without exclamation mark)

aberrant

Edited June 1, 2013 by aberrant

[zapster]

Anybody else notice how lots of professors and staff in academia like to sign their emails with "Best".

 

No no I'm not reading much into it. Its just one of my pet peeves that I've noticed is ubiquitious in academia.

 

I see no harm in it, but ofcourse you are entitled to your opinion - would like to point out though that this is definitely not unique to academia. May not be as all-pervasive, but there is a large chunk of corporate / industry population out there 'besting' it out....just saying

[jmu]

I say "best."

 

On a related note: http://theweek.com/article/index/241210/digital-etiquette-what-your-email-sign-off-says-about-you

[graduate33]

what about 'best of luck'? does that even mean anything?

[zapster]

what about 'best of luck'? does that even mean anything?

 

a shortened version of may the best of luck be with you - similar to may the force be with you. I think I'll start writing "Best of Force" now, that sounds good  

[mandarin.orange]

If "Best" bothers the OP, I can only imagine how s/he will react to those emails where profs don't even sign anything at all, just let their email signature (i.e. dump of contact info) do the work.   

 

Or the unsigned ones I get that simply say, "Sent from my iPhone/iPad/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BnLbv6QYcA."

 

Profs, and academics, are busy people with unwieldy Inboxes. My inbox is unwieldy. And many people don't even communicate well over email, or tend to spit back non-capitalized sentence fragments in the interest of being speedy, rather than eloquent. My primary collaborator is like this, and I find the occasional 30-min phone call is often better for us to hash out serious ideas. 

 

Unless a signature blatantly states "Up Yours," I recommend: read absolutely nothing into it and take nothing personally.

[Guest |||]

Compared to other four letter words, best is on the good end

 

 

 

 

In all fairness though, I think there might be a too much reading into this