If
you’re a regular reader of the weekly writing tips—and I hope you are—you may
have noticed my attachment to a particular signoff, “Happy writing!” Well, a recent article
from the Atlantic on email signoffs got me thinking about what (if
anything) email signatures say about writers and about language use in
general.
The
Atlantic piece, by Jessica Bennett and Rachel Simmons, focuses on the emergence
of XO (and its varients, XXOO, XOXO, etc) in workplace correspondence. While the writers acknowledge that Xing and
Oing is an almost exclusively female practice, it is not confined to tweens
jamming to the Biebs and Taylor Swift on their Beats by Dre headphones. According to the Atlantic, these virtual hugs
and kisses have been adopted as the signoff for successful women from Diane
Sawyer and Arianna Huffington.
In
fact, it seems, women generally seem to be the linguistic pioneers in our
society, according
to the New York Times. (An article
from Slate
notes that some men find all this vocal novelty annoying, if only because it
asserts women’s burgeoning power in shaping social norms.) From uptalk and vocal fry (i.e.
“creaky voice”) to repeating
letters
for emphaaaaaasis, there seems to be a slew of hip trends in spoken and written
discourse.
So
if you’re looking for something a little edgier and less stilted than
“Sincerely” in your next email (and if you think “Cheers” is a little too
2010), give some consideration to XO. Or
develop your own email signoff. It’s a
great way to brand yourself and show off your creative side.
James
