empty sentiment carelessly flung

nothing says
“I’m keeping you at arm’s length”
like a letter signed “best”

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14 Responses to empty sentiment carelessly flung

  1. mo says:

    “Yours sincerely,” (crossed out, handwritten LOVE)

  2. paz says:

    The new new hot signature in my corner of the bus.world is “Regards”.
    Like, “I acknowledge that I know who you are, but that’s all you’re getting.”

  3. Sean says:

    Totally thought this was me, until I looked at my sent e-mails and realized I hadn’t used it.

  4. jshep says:

    it refers to one in particular presently, just a thought I had. maybe some family members. ha!

  5. jshep says:

    freud! i meant to say “NO ONE” in particular
    damn

  6. jgross says:

    I sign pretty much everything “best.” It’s kinda sad. Someday I’ll have the nerve to sign everything that isn’t for business, “love.”
    I’m also weirdly fond on “my best to you and yours” and I couldn’t even begin to tell you why.

  7. mo says:

    yeah but signing love can be even more annoying. or the dash.

  8. Jordan says:

    “Bests,” even better. “Best regards,” “Kind regards” (I kinda like that), “Warmest regards” (nice!). “Sincerely,” hmm yeah? “Cordially,” cold. “Peace,” …

  9. Jordan says:

    “Bests,” even better. “Best regards,” “Kind regards” (I kinda like that), “Warmest regards” (nice!). “Sincerely,” hmm yeah? “Cordially,” cold. “Peace,” …

  10. modiggity says:

    warmly yours (we have a winner)

  11. jgross says:

    why is “love” more annoying than “best?”

  12. Michael says:

    non-linguistic symbols are the way to go…
    why bother with the solid connotations of words like “best” and “love?”
    (ref. above: using “love” blithely is annoying because it a) waters the word down, and b) sets us up for the laborious situation of finding a replacement word for the set of individual emotions and dependencies that add up to what we now call “love.”
    for example, my industry [music journalism] involves a lot pseudo-friendships between PR people and record labels and such. the publicists i deal with on a regular basis love to say “love” in order to accelerate that pseudo-friendship for obvious reasons. thus, the line ‘i love you too dad’ seems robbed of something).
    anyhow: symbols crafted to be more or less aethestically pleasing depending on the context. this is my suggestion. repeat them no more than three times in a month if you’re an “average” e-mailer. if you recieve a letter signed with a symbol you had created or believed you created, cease using it at once.
    this is only a suggestion.

  13. Michael says:

    non-linguistic symbols are the way to go…
    why bother with the solid connotations of words like “best” and “love?”
    (ref. above: using “love” blithely is annoying because it a) waters the word down, and b) sets us up for the laborious situation of finding a replacement word for the set of individual emotions and dependencies that add up to what we now call “love.”
    for example, my industry [music journalism] involves a lot pseudo-friendships between PR people and record labels and such. the publicists i deal with on a regular basis love to say “love” in order to accelerate that pseudo-friendship for obvious reasons. thus, the line ‘i love you too dad’ seems robbed of something).
    anyhow: symbols crafted to be more or less aethestically pleasing depending on the context. this is my suggestion. repeat them no more than three times in a month if you’re an “average” e-mailer. if you recieve a letter signed with a symbol you had created or believed you created, cease using it at once.
    this is only a suggestion.

  14. marisa says:

    Ouch. I just got a very standoffish and poorly timed best and immediately thought of this.

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