What’s it netiquette? How is it connected with email? Have you thought of e-mail as your business card which tells a lot about you?
I’m sharing with you some thoughts connected with netiquette (internet etiquette) and writing emails, because I believe they can inspire you to start positive changes in writing.
First thought. I dislike welcome „Hello”, however it seems to be universal. I like „Good morning” and „Good afternoon” and I like the vocative case which is in Polish language. It is great when you can write „Dear Joanna”, „Dear Peter”, „Dear Mr….”
Second thought. Abbreviations. Sometimes they are against the 4th Roman PR Rule – festina lente. Where are we running? After oldness? Instead of Thxs write Thank you very much.
Third thoughts. Automatic Best regards. I don’t like it as I know it is automatic and why not to write something more personal, like Friendly regards? Usually I finish my mails with the Polish word Serdeczności ( Eng. close to Cordiality) which is very seldom used, but its meaning is connected with my positive nature
Fourth thought. Does it mean that business style should be unemotional? I very often use emoticon smile 🙂 in my business e-mails. Because I smile when I write and this is important in communication.
Look at your e-mails and check: how you start and finish them, what is their style, what are their common features. And think how you can combine netiquette with you uniqueness.
This post is inspired by the discussion between Miodek, Markowski and Bralczyk who are professors and experts on Polish history, culture and language.