Culture

Apparently Signing Off An Email With “Best” Is Hostile, So Now People Don’t Know What To Do

But if you start signing off with "moist", I'm sure they'll beg you to go back to "best".

by Michelle Rennex  4 September 2020
best email sign off hostile

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There have long been debates about how you should convey your passive-aggressiveness to people via email.

Some believe that “as per my last email” is the peak of petty, while others reckon “reattaching for your convenience” is the bitchiest thing a person can type out and send.

But now the debate has moved from phrases to sign-offs, with Princeton PhD student, Kate Carpenter, sharing her realisation that her go-to “best” is actually deemed “hostile” by some.

According to people who replied to Carpenter’s tweet, best is “meaningless”, “off-putting”, “curt”, “impersonal” and “kind of implies you want the receiver to be hit by a truck”.

Others believe that “best” implies that the sender didn’t have the time to finish their thought or simply just didn’t care enough to. As “best” is an adjective, sending it alone apparently makes no sense and should instead be followed by another word like regards or wishes.

And as someone who solely uses best to end literally all my emails, this has sent my whole world into a spin. And I’m not the only one, the “best” lovers are now scrambling to find a new sign-off that doesn’t give off passive-aggressive vibes but it turns out that’s difficult to do.

With so many options to use, there really is no winning in the email sign-off game.

“Thanks” comes off too sarcastic, “sincerely” is too serious, “cheers” is too informal, “with gratitude” gives off some seriously creepy vibes and “ciao” is just universally frowned upon.

According to the unofficial alignment system for email sign-offs, true neutral is actually “sincerely” while “best” falls under neutral good, which isn’t really that bad when you look at the alternatives.

But honestly, who’s to say the second you start to using “sincerely” that too won’t also turn into a term deemed “hostile” or sarcastic to the email receiver?!

While trying to understand stupid email etiquette is exhausting and futile, some have suggested a few ways to get around the pesky task of choosing a non-offensive sign-off.

From using “fuck off” to avoid any possibility of misconstrued messaging to switching over to the word “moist” until people beg for us to use “best” again, people are getting creative with their farewells because at this point it’s our only hope.

Best, Michelle.