Comments on: Signing E-mail With Initials

By: JB :)

JB :) — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 16:06:20 +0000

At first I started noticing this and didn’t think much of it. I have always been bothered by it for some reason and could necver really figure it out. Then I started looking at the types of coworkers who were doing this and found a certain pattern. They are mostly all DB’s! Now I can safely say it is just a stupid fad and people who are starting to do it because they saw someone else do it and thought it was cool are the ones who ruin it. There may be some logical reasons for some people to justify doing it, but for the most part people are just trying to be cool and when you can see through that it makes them look dumb instead.

By: G-dog

G-dog — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 20:45:46 +0000

well – I too hate it. I find that if I clump all the people who practice this type of self-expression – I find the following patterns:
- insecure about their power to exert influence on others
- don’t feel they are respected as they should be (godfather wanna-b’s)
- want desperately to be noticed, even if for just a little bit
- are profoundly self-absorbed in some way
- are usually WOMEN!

By: PT

PT — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 13:46:55 +0000

So I am the poster above, and I have changed sides. My close friends and I call each other M, J, P, for fun, out of love. Fine.
My worry was always the first name last name combo. Why do professors use it? Are they being informal or formal? I couldn’t tell. I was at a loss.
Now I am teaching. And I don’t want my students to call me by my first name — i guess I am insecure i won’t be respected coz i am relatively young. And to imply that i am “official” and senior, i use the initial. Only, I wish there was an alternative. I still feel iffy about it.

By: Lisa

Lisa — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 21:43:01 +0000

There’s a woman in my husband’s office who, when writing emails, uses her full christian name with most people but invariably signs off her emails to my husband with just her initial. I find this annoying and flirtatious and over friendly!!

By: perk

perk — Mon, 23 May 2011 13:39:32 +0000

I do it at work because my full name is already in my email. So, I use the old school memo format to avoid rewriting my name when that is already available. I don’t do it from email accounts that don’t have my full name.

I googled it at work and am surprised that it is considered pretentious. My other option would be to avoid a sign-off together.

By: Rosiel

Rosiel — Fri, 13 May 2011 20:16:52 +0000

I hate it. At first I thought it was kind of cool and such, and I would understand, if say my professor or PhD sponsor or Supervisor would do it…

BUT I also notice it being used by people who, incidentally, happen to have a high and respected status in society. If they have nothing to do with me (and usually they don’t, I don’t depend on them or anything), it absolutely puts me off. I view it as arrogant and rude, and I’ll take some pointers from the people here, when I reply… I will make it a point to address them with just their initial.

By: John Doe

John Doe — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 03:24:23 +0000

Hi, Dr. Professor type here. We sign emails with initials because we have to straddle the line between American sensibilities about egalitarianism with our status as credentialed professionals. For instance, if I sign my email “Dr. Doe”, then the recipient will probably think, “Gee, thanks for throwing your Ph.D. in my face, Dr. Self-Important Doofus.”

That’s right, even though it took me years of hard work and poverty to earn it, if I even imply that I’d rather be called “Doctor”, then I’ve violated a very American sense of social equality. You know, the kind that lets everyone who works at Disney call each other by their first name even though the CEO makes roughly 300x that of the lowest-paid employee and can probably have them destroyed if so inclined.

However, if I sign my email “John”, especially when communicating with a student, then I’ve become overly familiar with them. So signing my emails with “jd” is a tidy way of sidestepping that dilemma. It’s not to appear snotty, but rather to avoid doing so while also avoiding the kind of familiarity that makes giving out F’s on exams that much more difficult.

By: Rhonda

Rhonda — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 22:03:52 +0000

I think it is completely pretentious and
off – putting. Anyone who protests
ignorance to this obvious reaction is not fooling me.

By: rob

rob — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 06:31:45 +0000

one letter sign-offs are not cool. anyone that does it is just an idiot. lazy. i would rather people not put anything at all.

when i become president of the world, one letter sign-offs will be banned, alongside smoking and mayonnaise.

By: Rosey

Rosey — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 00:27:40 +0000

I’d like to join the haters camp on the initial thing. I found it so gratifying that someone above just flat out said “Hate it”. Like another poster, I can’t believe I even googled it, let alone found a discussion on it. My boss does it, and we are a small (3 person ) organization…we are very friendly with each other in person, and often in emails. When I get short, business like emails from her signed “SB” it drives me nuts, feels like she’s really exercising her alpha status. Could be my imagination. I can have a chip on my shoulder about such things. Sometimes my good friend does it. I marvel at the fact that I take offense at such a simple thing, but to me it feels very formal. I was interested to hear that folks see it as informal. I always feel like signing my name (not my first and last, just my first) implies more intimacy.

By: Steve

Steve — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 16:58:37 +0000

Completely annoying…
Anyone who signs their emails with initials are instantly viewed as pretentious.

I’ll take some pointers from here and start addressing emails to their initials, and addressing them that way verbally also.

By: Josephira

Josephira — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 00:56:56 +0000

Well, where I work it is done all the time. No one has actually said it out loud, but I can only gather that it is a sign of respect and status. Very strange. I ignore it because I think it’s silly.

To me, that is why we use salutations and last names. Call me old school.

By: Reagan

Reagan — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 20:15:55 +0000

OK, so I totally do this, and I even googled a few keywords to see if I could find a discussion on it. I’m also totally willing to own up to why I do it (because no one else here seems to be, despite their eloquent justifications).

I mean honestly, how is signing E-mails with just an initial a sign of closeness? Do your best friends call you by just an initial? Does your family?

“Wake up, M! I cooked you some eggs and sausage!”

And forget automatic signatures, who here can’t type their own first name in three seconds or less? And if you were actually close to the person, wouldn’t it make more sense not to sign the letter at all and assume they would recognize your e-mail address?

HERE’S WHY I SIGN MY LETTERS WITH JUST AN INITIAL:

Because it’s cool. It looks cool, and I like feeling cool, and I’m OK with liking feeling cool.

Consider these famous examples of people being referred to by just initials:

Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones in Men in Black.

M and Q in the James Bond films.

Mr. T

Zorro

Need I continue further?

Rather, I have a question to pose to the rest of you: If doing something stupid like signing your name with an initial or wearing sunglasses indoors makes you feel better, then what’s the harm?

Why do we feel the need to give a hard reality check to anyone we see with the gall to actually imagine that they could be as cool as we all wish we were?

I once heard about a guy who liked to kneel while taking his morning shower and stand up slowly, humming the theme of The Terminator to himself. I think that’s kickass.

By: Eric

Eric — Wed, 27 May 2009 13:14:27 +0000

It is common practice to sign memos with initials because the name of the author is in the heading. The email is analogues of inter organizational memos.

Emails are not a substitute for formal business communication.

By: Mike

Mike — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 11:24:04 +0000

Basically, it is a subtle form of arrogance, conceit and narcissism. Look out for the correlation. If someone sends you an email and then just signs it with a single letter, ask yourself whether they are a bit up their own harris. They probably are.

I hate it too. A good example would be college professors, as mentioned above. Tony Blair signed his memos ‘T’. Maybe it meant ‘tw*t’ though.

Everybody stop it please.