Negating your name
What is it with some people that they feel compelled to sign off emails by preceding their name or initials with a minus sign.
It seems to be a techie thing, as Francis and Enda both do it. Actually, thinking about it, Enda signs off "/e". Also, the meebo pop-up message today was from Elaine, or should I say -Elaine. There are other examples out there, but I can’t think of the culprits right now. Not sure if it’s limited to the unwashed techie masses. Maybe it’s some Unix joke that I don’t get. If so, good. Can anyone explain?
-dan
August 29, 2006 | Filed Under Tech stuff
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4 Responses to “Negating your name”
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I do it because I’m actually not writing an email, I’m writing a big long formula with lots of variables. The capper to every formula is to subtract my initials which are representative of the universe.
If I were to use the + sign it would add in the sum total of my initials’ entropy which would overload your email system.
I also like to use full stops in my phone number.
-fs
Well my “/e” goes back to the dats when XML was an “unusual” thing: a message would start with a and end with or in my case the shortening of and to (eventually) “/e”
There is another – more archane – explination worth looking at too. The signature “- (newline)” was once a “standard” which when personally embellished eventually would end up as “-enda” or some such.
Thing is – right at the heart of it – it is kind of a techie thing. Whether or not everyone who now partakes is still a “”techie”" it doesn’t matter – once apon a time, it was.
/e
Well well – there was a <enda> and a </enda> missing from the message above which completly ruined the flow of the comment
Ah well.
Francis,
Surely it would subtract the product of your initials, as opposed to the sum? Full stops (periods) in phone numbers is a very American thing.
Oh and btw, you’re both weird…