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Formality

Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
in General Chat
Hey here's a question, when you write letters off are you usually really formal? I used to be but these days I just treat everyone (even customer service people) as my friend :p. Most of the time they respond in kind (and often deal with your problem better), though sometimes you do get the automatic 'we are dealing with your request'.

I try to pop in a joke or humourous reference at least half the time ;) hehe. Just amusing myself with sendit because the poster I got with a game is in French lol.

I try to have the same attitude in interviews, but some formality i.e. dressed smartly to show you've made the effort is necessary.

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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I'm always formal in letters. Generally if I'm writing a letter to someone then it would be about something important therefore requiring formality anyway.
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    littlemissylittlemissy Posts: 9,972 Supreme Poster
    MoonArcanum wrote: »
    I'm always formal in letters. Generally if I'm writing a letter to someone then it would be about something important therefore requiring formality anyway.

    Yeah. I am always formal too. In fact, I would only be informal if leaving a note to someone - eg can you get bread on the way home? sort of thing.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    As part of my job I write a lot of legal letters to people, so most of my writing is formal now. That does end up coming across in personal letters too, as I'm so used to writing formally I forget how to be chatty.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I've always been really formal when writing letters.

    Usually it's because I have to hand them to teachers or people who are in authority over me.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    The rare occasion I do have to write something half formal It is usual way to chatty and matey!
    Unless I am mad about something where I sound like a mad bitch lusting for blood!
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Even when I write to teachers or people in authority, I don't tend to be completely formal. Although I should qualify that, my non-formal I suppose could be someone elses formal, it's just the way I write letters, I hate abbreviations or words like 'mate'. But the content may be less than formal, like I won't say 'You have 14 days to respond to this' with it dated and everything, I'll just say 'if it's possible to sort this out quickly that would be fantastic! Best Wishes, Richard'.

    Sometimes I include a smiley face at the end, especially if it's an ongoing correspondence. I felt sorry for one guy, because he was helping me with a scan.co.uk - their stock system is a bit broken (trying to upgrade it but they need a new warehouse so quite tricky, but they're still the best :p) so when I made my order it said in stock, then it was out of stock. So I changed it for other in stock items, and then another item on my order was out of stock.

    At the end of it I just cut the items from the order and said send it now :p and bought them from ebuyer, but I had quite a friendly demanour with him I guess you could call it. I always try to address my mails to a person as well, rather than just an organisation.

    I hate it when people sign their letters 'Amazon.co.uk' or something else like that. You can hardly say "Hi! Thanks for getting back to me so quickly Amazon.co.uk". Le sigh.

    Heh :)
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    Indrid ColdIndrid Cold Posts: 16,688 Skive's The Limit
    I don't write letters. In emails though, I try to be formal if I'm talking to someone I don't know at all (like technical support etc).
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    It depends. If I'm writing a letter (or email) to a company of some sort, then I will come across as formal. If it's a friend I tend to be much less formal.

    However, with friends (letters normally) I will start off with 'Dear' and usually just sign off with my name, but don't say Your Sincerly or anything like that.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I always do formal letters and formal emails at work, as I dont like chatty worked based emails (its a pet hate and it drives me nuts at work) I'm less formal for mates/family but then I hardly ever write to or email them.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    i used t make mine formal, but lately, even if its one of my teachers, my letters are aazingly informal.

    except for my english teacher, hed probobly tell me to write the email again for extra homework :(
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