"cheers" and email etiquette

[aparente001]

My German husband learned British English growing up and I am from the States, where we now live. He signs most of his emails like this:

cheers,
(his name)

I wonder whether I can do this too. What's bothering me is that many of my emails are requests for information or help with something, so if the last sentence or paragraph of my letter is "Thank you" or "Thanks", then would the "cheers" be redundant? When I look up "cheers" in the dictionary, I find both "thank you" and "bye-bye". When I hear Tony Archer say it at the end of a conversation with David Archer in the podcast, it sounds like he's expressing general appreciation and good will. Should I make sure not to use "cheers" right after a "thank you"?

Could British English speakers tell me if the "cheers" closing makes the author of the email look cheerful and friendly?

Thanks!

[SepticTone]

The use of 'cheers' AND 'Thanks' at the end of an email is, as you suspect, redundant in this context, as the familiar 'cheers' does imply both 'Thanks' & 'bye'.

I stress that 'cheers' is a familiar, so its usage depends on the tone of your email in general.

If you don't know the recipient very well, & are requesting help or information, it's probably best just to end it with the standard British email terminal salutation of

"Thank you in advance,
Regards"
............

If I received an email from a stranger, & they used 'cheers' to terminate it, I'd find that to be over-familiar & flippant & slightly disrespectful, as British & US semiology differs quite markedly, as you may have guessed from other posts in here.

Like your husband using 'du' or 'Sie' in any German correspondence. English doesn't have the equivalent familiar tense verbal prefixes, or suffixes, so the familiar tense is suggested by pronouns or little touches like 'cheers', if you know the person well, or they're family.

Depends how familiar you want to be, really, doesn't it?

[aparente001]

Thanks for the prompt response! Okay, the redundancy part is clear. About the familiarity, I suppose Americans tend to be seen as overly familiar in many other countries. My husband's closing appeals to me for certain messages where I'd like to soften the tone. The context might be a school listserve. Let's say a bunch of parents are having a discussion over email about something. Parent A has sent an opinion to the list (group), and Parent B disagrees and sends an indignant response. Now I send a message pointing out why Parent B has it all wrong and Parent A is quite right. I want to sound nice about it and express the attitude 'I don't mean to be heavy-handed about this -- I think you're mistaken, but let's disagree in a friendly way'. In the States, at least, in this context 'regards' would sound stilted and could make the person feel put down.

Another context would be a client tries to micromanage me in an email, but he doesn't know what he's talking about (after all, he hired me because I have expertise he doesn't). I have to assert myself in my response and explain why his/her instructions are no good. I DON'T want to say, 'You don't know what you're talking about; I do, and that's why you're paying me; here are reasons why your suggestions will not give us good results.' Then I harbor the hope that my husband's closing will soften the blow!

Note I am allergic to smilies of any kind.

All these email conversations take place in the U.S. with people who have mainly, or exclusively, lived in the States.

What do you think? Would 'cheers' be a faux pas in these contexts?

[aparente001]

Hmm. It doesn't seem to let me edit my post once I've hit submit.

I meant
I DON'T want to say, 'You don't know what you're talking about; I do, and that's why you're paying me'. I say 'Here are reasons why your suggestions will not give us good results.'

[davec]

You have hit on a thorny one here. What if you're addressing a mixed American/nonAmerican crowd on a sensitive issue? Don't want to seem palsy-walsy with nonAmericans (offensively over-familiar, might seem disingenuous), nor too stiff and formal with Americans (might seem to be distancing yourself). I suppose a slightly informal term addressing all persons involved might do the trick. 'Look forward to hearing from you all?' Hmmm...

[aparente001]

I'm not too worried about the heterogeneity of the crowd. Most of the parents are from the U.S. Some are from other places, with a great variety of countries of origin represented. Just your typical U.S. college town.

I was trying to compare 'cheerio' and 'cheers'. I think that 'cheerio' really wouldn't fit in a serious discussion. It would sound flippant to me. Is that what you all are trying to explain to me about 'cheers'?

[cbrzychcy]

I personally think (being a parent and having been in your shoes with the list thing) that 'cheers' at the end of an email in the context would be perfectly fine. Not too distant and not too familiar.

As for the client bit, I wouldn't like it if I were your client. I expect the people I hire for things to keep a certain distance from me and not get to familiar with me so I'm not sure what to put there.

[aparente001]

Here are my tentative conclusions, then:
- 'cheers' okay for school listserves
- if 'thanks!' comes naturally as a closing, then omit the 'cheers'
- 'cheers' will also work when sending a reminder about something to my husband
- 'regards' preferable for clients
- also I think I should start using a fancy signature for the professional emails, with a nice title

I forgot to mention the origin of my husband's habit. He picked it up from a British colleague. (I wonder whether my correspondents will realize that my 'cheers' closing includes an expression of gratitude.... Maybe to be on the safe side, I should work in some gratitude early on in the email when needed.)

Cheers

(how was that?)

[SepticTone]

Works for me, apparente, as a British person. You've got it dead right there, I think.

Of course, email, forums (fori?), texting, Twitter & all other forms of instant arms-length communication apart from a paper letter have tended to simplify & debase the English language somewhat, so your idea of researching the implicit meaning of a 'borrowed' British usage & carefully inserting it into US correspondence is admirable, as it disseminates more words into everybody's vocabulary worldwide in the English diaspora & ultimately more subtlety to the language. Bloody Hell! you've just become the opposite of a member of the Academie Francaise! Cheers!

I'm reminded, paradoxically, of the job of the 'Ministry of Truth' in Orwell's "1984" , whose job it was to remove as many words as possible from the language so as to cut down the number of thoughts people could have and express: 'Newspeak'.

Doubleplusgood on you, apparente

[jojo22]

I would use cheers to a stranger if it was informal, such as on here, but not with a work thing. I however find it friendly and familiar in a good way, unlike the other poster. I would use it sign off in a quick friendly way, I don't think it would come across if you were using it to soften a blow.

Cheers,

Jo.