| Pages in topic: [1 2 3] > | "Cheers", "Best" and "Bests" Thread poster: Marina Steinbach
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Marina Steinbach
United States
Local time: 10:57
Member (2011)
English to German
Dear Colleagues,
Could somebody please explain to me, why people are sending me e-mails with “Cheers”, “Bests” and “Best” as salutation?
Ok, I might be a little old-fashioned. But, if I read “cheers”, then I immediately think of booze and happy hours…
Best regards,
Marina
| | | | | Then your reply should be | Aug 23, 2011 |
Zum Wohl! at the end of your email.
| | | | David Wright 
Austria
Local time: 16:57
German to English
+ ...
| Goes backa long way | Aug 23, 2011 |
when I was a student in the UK in the 1960s, cheers was definitely a very common salutation and also a replacement for thanks.
Bests sounds absurd.
| | | | matt robinson
Spain
Local time: 16:57
Member (2010)
Spanish to English
As David said, cheers is a common salutation substituting bye or thanks, or both (in British English, anyway).
I used it in an email only yesterday (and have used it all my life) and I'm no spring chicken!
Cheers.
The more recent trend to make adjectives plural and use them as nouns (bests, simples, etc.) strikes me as little short of barbaric!
Oh, and I don't like TIA either!
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Ty Kendall
United Kingdom
Local time: 15:57
Hebrew to English
| Normal usage | Aug 23, 2011 |
I agree with the last two guys.
I hear "cheers" more often that "thanks" nowadays, although I prefer its usage in the spoken language, I don't personally transfer it to my written output. But times are changin'.
I also agree that "bests" just sounds uneducated...and well, wrong.
| | | | Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 15:57
Member (2008)
Italian to English
| The one I really can't stand is..... | Aug 23, 2011 |
..."have a nice day".
I have just this minute had an email from someone in Switzerland inviting me to have a nice day.
I hope it may soon be generally recognised by those for whom English is not their mother tongue that "have a nice day" is possibly the most annoying thing you can say to anyone.
[Edited at 2011-08-23 08:15 GMT]
| | | | Laurent KRAULAND (X)
France
Local time: 16:57
French to German
+ ...
Tom in London wrote:
..."have a nice day".
I have just this minute had an email from someone in Switzerland inviting me to have a nice day.
I hope it may soon be generally recognised by those for whom English is not their mother tongue that "have a nice day" is possibly the most annoying thing you can say to anyone.
[Edited at 2011-08-23 08:15 GMT]
The French version of it strikes me as being: 1) overused and 2) dismissive in some way. So count on me.
| | | | neilmac
Spain
Local time: 16:57
Spanish to English
+ ...
| = ciao for now /+ thank you | Aug 23, 2011 |
Goodbye, cheerio, pip-pip, toodlee-oo, good bye-ee, good bye-ee, wipe a tear, baby dear, from your eye-ee!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0u3NM8rd1U
As our colleague points out, in UK English cheers is a much more common way of saying "am out", farewell, God speed... "later duuude" in spoken language, but who really considers emails as an example of the "written word" nowa... See more Goodbye, cheerio, pip-pip, toodlee-oo, good bye-ee, good bye-ee, wipe a tear, baby dear, from your eye-ee!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0u3NM8rd1U
As our colleague points out, in UK English cheers is a much more common way of saying "am out", farewell, God speed... "later duuude" in spoken language, but who really considers emails as an example of the "written word" nowadays anyway? And "cheers" can mean "thank you" as well as "cheerio", or a sort of combination of both concepts.
For me, more irksome than an insincere "have a nice day" is the current Brit trend to say "laters" or "later taters"... whereas the elliptic "best" is just sloth taken to its extremes. ▲ Collapse
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Caro Maucher
Germany
Local time: 16:57
Member (2005)
English to German
+ ...
I quite frequently wish people a nice day. I wasn't aware that it can be annoying. And it's not even insincere. But well, I guess I'll stop it then.
| | | | Samuel Murray
Netherlands
Local time: 16:57
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
Caro Giese wrote:
I quite frequently wish people a nice day. I wasn't aware that it can be annoying. And it's not even insincere.
Well, I end all my e-mails with "Sincerely" even though I'm not any more sincere as I would have been if I hadn't written it. I have no idea if it irks anyone, but I think you can't win them all. For some, "Sincerely" is standard but for others it is old-fashioned and for yet others it is an Americanism or a Britishism or some other kind of ism.
All I know is that different people from different places in the world have different ideas about what is polite and what is cute and what is acceptable, so I tend not to judge. I just hope most clients don't judge me too harshly (in fact, I sometimes wonder whether I've lost any clients because of the particular salutation I use in my e-mails).
And then of course you have ASAP, PFA, ETA, and their elk (or ilk).
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I believe that (in British English, at any rate) "cheers" was originally what you said when you were drinking a drink someone had bought you (sometimes accompanied by clinking glasses) and hence became a way of saying "thanks". In London it can become "cheers, mate" - pronounced "cheese mite".
As for "bests" and "laters" for goodbye, best wishes or see you later - I haven't heard them yet and they sound ridiculous to me - but I'm very old-fashioned.
Am I right in thinking that simple... See more I believe that (in British English, at any rate) "cheers" was originally what you said when you were drinking a drink someone had bought you (sometimes accompanied by clinking glasses) and hence became a way of saying "thanks". In London it can become "cheers, mate" - pronounced "cheese mite".
As for "bests" and "laters" for goodbye, best wishes or see you later - I haven't heard them yet and they sound ridiculous to me - but I'm very old-fashioned.
Am I right in thinking that simple "hasta" is used in Spain these days, instead of "hasta luego", etc.? If so, I suppose it's with the same idea of speed and brevity in mind.
Cheese mites,
Jenny ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Translation in the US = don't use "cheers" | Aug 23, 2011 |
Hello,
"Cheers" is not a normal closing phrase for a letter, e-mail, etc. in US English and, even in spoken US English, is only really used in the context of a toast. However, as everyone here has made clear, it is entirely normal outside the US (and possibly Canada).
That said, some Anglophiles in the US might use it and most people used to working internationally would not notice it as something unusual.
I've never seen or read "Best" and agree that "Bests" is ... See more Hello,
"Cheers" is not a normal closing phrase for a letter, e-mail, etc. in US English and, even in spoken US English, is only really used in the context of a toast. However, as everyone here has made clear, it is entirely normal outside the US (and possibly Canada).
That said, some Anglophiles in the US might use it and most people used to working internationally would not notice it as something unusual.
I've never seen or read "Best" and agree that "Bests" is repulsive. I don't have any strong opinion about "Have a nice day," but do not use it myself (apparently yet another UK vs. US thing).
Like Samuel, I consider "Sincerely" a very simple and internationally unmarked solution, and I almost always use it (even for forum posts).
Sincerely,
Michael ▲ Collapse
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Giles Watson
Italy
Local time: 16:57
Italian to English
In memoriam | The full Douglas Adams | Aug 23, 2011 |
Tom in London wrote:
..."have a nice day".
I have just this minute had an email from someone in Switzerland inviting me to have a nice day.
I do rather like the full version that Douglas Adams quotes somewhere in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - "Have a nice day, enjoy your life, die happy and come back as something wonderful".
Not that I would use it in business correspondence, of course!
Giles
| | | | neilmac
Spain
Local time: 16:57
Spanish to English
+ ...
| Baby/bathwater | Aug 23, 2011 |
Caro Giese wrote:
I quite frequently wish people a nice day. I wasn't aware that it can be annoying. And it's not even insincere. But well, I guess I'll stop it then.
It is not ALWAYS annoying, but to many BRITS, it does sound quite faux and insincere, especially when coming from a shop assistant (sales clerk) or cold caller.
However, there is no reason not to say it if you really do wish the person to have a nice day, holiday or meal, etc...
| | | | neilmac
Spain
Local time: 16:57
Spanish to English
+ ...
Jenny Forbes wrote:
Am I right in thinking that simple "hasta" is used in Spain these days, instead of "hasta luego", etc.?
What I tend to hear (and use) each day is a sort of mumbled 'talogo" instead of "hasta luego"...
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