The language of e-mail 105
By contrast, most of my son’s contacts do add such messages.
E-mail guides are circumspect in their advice, noting that the nov-
elty, freshness, or impact of a character note quickly fades, and that
ill-chosen items can return to haunt the senders once their inter-
ests or status have moved on. ‘Cool dude’ might have suited John
Doe as an office junior, but he may not like to be reminded of his
former e-identity now he is a company vice-president. Messages
can last a long time, in e-mail archives. And, as Wallace puts it:
‘Most of us enter cyberspace... giving little thought to the online
persona – how we come across to the people with whom we interact
online.’^14
The farewell element has two important functions in e-mails, as
distinct from traditional letters. First, it acts as a boundary marker,
indicatingthatfurtherscrollingdownisunnecessary.Theremayin-
deed be additional automatically generated material on the screen,
such as an advertisement for a mailserver company, a notice saying
that the message has been checked for viruses, or a statement of
confidentiality such as the following:^15
This e-mail is confidential and should not be used by anyone who
is not the original intended recipient. If you have received this
e-mail in error please inform the sender and delete it from your
mailbo xor any other storage mechanism.The farewell has come to indicate that no further personalized
text is following – and it is this expectation which makes the use
of postscripted text unwise. Many e-mail readers do not look be-
yond the signature. Secondly, the farewell has an extended iden-
tity function. Obviously it identifies the sender to the immediate
recipient (typically providing information which is not present
in the header, especially useful if the e-address is opaque), but it
also makes this fuller identification available to others who may
eventually see the message, in the case of forwarded or attached
mail.
(^14) Wallace (1999: 14).
(^15) Some writers, especially in the business world, place suggestions about further contact
before the farewell, as the last element in the body of the message.