[suchow]

This is an excellent example of why inferring causation from an observed correlation requires great care. Note that the study did not randomly assign valedictions to emails and observe the causal impact on response rate. Rather, they observed a correlation between the sign-off chosen and the response rate.

"Thanks" garners many responses because people use it in emails that make reasonable requests with a good chance of response.

My favorite valediction is still "I am, &c.," which is short for "I am your humble and obedient servant". Not sure whether my colleagues appreciate it as much as I do...

[LeoPanthera]

"&c" is the archaic form of "etc", the ampersand being a ligature of "et" - Latin for "and".

As far as I can tell the "&c." version was popularized by the 1944 novel "Anna and the King of Siam".

So it literally means "I am, etc.", which I assume only expands to "I am your humble and obedient servant" in a humorous way. Might be taken the wrong way.

[tsm]

&c was widely (exclusively?) used in the 18th century. I happen to have been looking at this newspaper ad most recently: https://i.imgur.com/ALe5XeT.jpg

The inference is that the second book (Airs &c &c) will also be of Airs, Minuets, Gavotts, and Reels (or something similar).

Also, 18th-century letters routinely end with some snowclone of "your most humble and obedient servant", with many writers eliding some or all of it with &c since it was understood.

[i_am_proteus]

Plus, during the lead type era, using the '&' instead of 'et' saved the printer wear on often-heavily-worn 'e's and 't's in the font.

[jjgreen]

Amusingly "ampersand" is derived from the time when it was the 27th letter of the alphabet just known as "and", one would recite the alphabet as "..., x, y, z, and, per se, and", contracted to ampersand.

[Tagbert]

That’s because “&” is a ligature (2 joined characters) of “e” and “t” and represented the Latin work “et” which means “and”.

[happytoexplain]

I think humorously is the intended way for it to be taken. But not disrespectfully.

[Accujack]

>"&c" is the archaic form of "etc", the ampersand being a ligature of "et" - Latin for "and".

"etc" is an abbreviation for and contraction of "et cetera", Latin for "and so on". "&c" is, I think, an artifact of a particular time in history when writing skills were spreading rapidly but the process of writing itself was cumbersome and time consuming, necessitating macro-type abbreviations like that. It's not particularly archaic.

[Pigalowda]

It is Latin shorthand created by Cicero’s educated slave, Tiro. The system was created to record senate meetings and conversations for Cicero to go over later.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tironian_notes

[musicale]

> the ampersand being a ligature of "et"

I have been noticing recently that certain ampersands contain (to me) very clearly readable "et" abbreviations, while others are more stylized.

[noduerme]

>> a particular time in history when writing skills were spreading rapidly but the process of writing itself was cumbersome

I feel like I'm previewing the 22nd Century's review of "LOL", "WTF" and "THOT".

[bryanrasmussen]

>Might be taken the wrong way.

My wife might be offended if I implied being her humble and obedient servant was only an etc.

[seanhunter]

I am from the UK and work with a lot of Americans. I often sign off emails with "Cheers," which gets a lot of positive comment.

As well as being what you might say when clinking glasses, in the UK "cheers" is a jovial way of saying "thanks" as well as something you might say for "goodbye" so works in all these contexts simultaneously.

[exclusiv]

I've been doing Cheers for a long time too. Nice to see it towards the top. I prefer a more casual friendly tone and I'm pretty sure I started using it after seeing someone from the UK sign off all emails like that.

So cheers!

[spacedcowboy]

Yep, Brit here in the US too, and 'Cheers' is my sign-off-of-choice. I'm told that I only get away with it because I'm British though, and my American colleagues would feel awkward using it :)

Cheers!

[npteljes]

I have a similarly positive experience with "Cheers". I always like it when someone uses it, and I often use it myself. Works really well with people you already established a connection with.

[simonebrunozzi]

The Italian word "ciao" [0] comes from the word "slave", meaning exactly that - "I am your humble servant". Became popular in Venice and then spread elsewhere.

[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ciao

[1_player]

I'm born and raised in Italy and TIL. Makes sense, ciao -> sciao -> schiavo (slave).

BTW, interesting fact: "The Venetian word for "slave", s-ciào [ˈstʃao] or s-ciàvo, derives from Medieval Latin sclavus, a loanword from Medieval Greek Σκλάβος, related to the ethnic "Slavic", since most of the slaves came from the Balkans."

I'll be extremely sad if one day we'd have to lose the most common salutation because somebody deemed it offensive.

[4gotunameagain]

> I'll be extremely sad if one day we'd have to lose the most common salutation because somebody deemed it offensive.

shh don't give ideas to bored twitter "activists"!

[mattowen_uk]

And TIL the origin of the word Slave, and the OG slaves of Europe.

Thanks! (in keeping with the topic at hand.)

[3dbrows]

In the Royal Navy, written letters to the captain [1] have to be signed off with "I am honoured to be, Sir, your obedient servant". I remember (in 2010) people thought this was stupid and instead used something like "Yours sincerely". But this ran contrary to regulations, and it was announced that letters would be rejected if not signed properly. Time moves very slowly in the RN.

[1] There are codified degrees of formality for written communications. Formal, demi-formal, and others used more operationally. I am talking about first-tier formal letters to senior officers in this case.

[exclusiv]

I had someone tell me on the phone and email - "I kiss the ground you walk on". I thought it was just weird and it caught me off guard on the phone the first time.

Candidly - your colleagues most likely don't appreciate it as you do, whether they know the meaning or not.

As I'm sure you're aware, in some countries, servitude is the greatest honor. But in many, it isn't; it signals 1) that you are lesser than or 2) you are very malleable person who may make a good fall person or dirty deed underling or 3) they don't believe your words and just think it's kind of creepy

I really appreciate that some countries consider it an honor, and I don't know where or who you work with, but there's a very good chance that your favorite valediction is not only underappreciated, but not appreciated at all.

Hope that's not the case but your closing comment sparked me to be candid about it for consideration.

[ineedasername]

>"I am, &c.,"

I've never heard that before, is it cultural/regional? (Compared to US)

[tkgally]

Samuel Johnson, among others in 18th-century Britain, used it:

https://archive.org/details/lettersjohnson01hilluoft/page/n2...

[happytoexplain]

I've only seen it from Americans, actually (though I am one, so not much evidence that it is strictly American).

[klodolph]

It is archaic.

[musicale]

> "I am your humble and obedient servant"

perhaps overly appropriate/accurate for messages to one's boss/employer

[chromatin]

I love your closing.

I sometimes use as a formal valediction:

Loren Ipsum Dolor etc. I remain (paragraph break here, no punctuation)

Very truly yours,

[My Name]

[mjklin]

Perhaps the influence of Hamilton[0] could bring this valediction back into fashion?

[0]: https://youtu.be/V6_qvZFRlJQ

[tsm]

Some of my friends sign emails/letters to me with YMHOS. But we all do research on the 18th century, which…ah…is an important factor.