Still from the TV series "House", creator: David Shore
Unlike oral speech, mistakes are not forgotten in business correspondence - everything remains in the memory of a mailbox or messenger. Etiquette specialist Oksana Zaretskaya talks about the worst mistakes that are encountered in business communications and are very annoying.
Here are the most common "sins" that many of us make in business correspondence. If you follow one of them, fix it urgently.
Etiquette, Cultural Expert, Founder "Schools of etiquette and culture of Oksana Zaretskaya"
And again about "hello"
In a place of honor - one of the most ridiculous greetings that can only be written vis-a-vis - "good time of the day." It is difficult to imagine anything more discouraging in business correspondence. Here - "good morning" and other "greetings". Business communication assumes that you communicate during business hours - from 9.00 to 18.00. Therefore, if not "hello", then "good afternoon." It doesn't matter when you send the letter, and even more so it doesn't matter what time your addressee reads it. The job of the greeting is not to guess the time of day, but to start the letter. The exception is correspondence via the messenger. Since messages arrive instantly, it is appropriate to say good morning, afternoon or evening.
I am writing to you
The address "You" with a capital letter is only in official letters and invitations. You shouldn't write like this all the time - it can annoy the addressee. It's like a white-gloved butler speaking to you with an English accent. I immediately want to bow and leave.
Photo from the site ru-royalty.livejournal.com People who communicate on the Internet do not always coincide in real time.
For example, in Moscow your day is in full swing, and in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky it's midnight. It's evening for you, and in New York people have just come to work and sat down in their offices to their computers.
How do you order to greet the interlocutor in such situations? ..
This is where these strange greetings appeared, which were not there before: "Good day!" and "Good time of the day!" Like, what time do you have now, figure it out yourself, and I greet you, and that's the end of it.
I must say, there are exactly two etiquette formulas: an affirmative (good time of the day) and a welcome, a kind of formula-wish (good time of the day). The nominative case, as it were, states that the time is really good, the weather is excellent, things are going great. The genitive case is just intended to wish the interlocutor that he had all this.
In either case, good relations are established between the speakers or writers, this is not even discussed.
Here's an interesting thing: welcome formulas in the form of wishes are not found too often now, it was in the 19th century that they were very common: "I wish you a good day", "good evening" ...
We, if we use them in our speech, then more at parting, when we want to admonish the interlocutor. That's when we wish him good night, good day or good weekend.
It turns out that the Internet greeting "good time of the day" goes back to the greetings-wishes of the old, nineteenth century before last, that's how it is!
For me, even that doesn't make him better.
You do not know what time your interlocutor has now, just write “hello”. It will be clear - without any claims to originality.
, linguist, deputy editor-in-chief of the radio station "Echo of Moscow"
Words. In business correspondence, there are phrases that seem normal to some, while annoying others:
There is nothing wrong with the phrases themselves when they are said with respect to the recipient. But this is often not the case. Often people use them to mask irritation. For example, in the example below, both "you" with a capital letter and "respectfully" at the end, and the feeling of being poured in mud:
Dear Ivan!
If you thought a little about the quality of your work, you would never have offered such a thing. I would like to ask you to reject this proposal and discuss with your colleagues a new concept of work.
Best regards, Dmitry Petrov.
Not only that, words do not help here. After this letter, I would like to roughly prove to Dmitry that he is wrong.
Now imagine that every day readers receive a dozen of such boorish letters, generously interspersed with "colleagues", "take note" and "I heard you." How will they react to these words in everyday life?
It is better to avoid words that have such associations. If we know that our colleagues are pounding at the word “colleague”, it is better not to tempt fate - even if it seems to us that the word is completely normal.
In order not to run into potentially explosive words, we advise you to maintain a neutral tone:
Wait ... But what about "Sincerely"? After all, if you do not write it at the end, then it is like a violation of the standards of business etiquette. This is downright disrespect, isn't it?
No. Respect comes from presentation and approach, not words. When the interlocutor respects us, he does not press, does not hold us for idiots, does not imitate, does not include passive aggression. He treats us as an equal and takes into account our interests. The question is not in words, but in relation to:
Let's look at an example with Dmitry's letter in the previous spread. Let's remove from it all the words that could annoy:
Ivan! If you thought a little about the quality of the work, you would never offer this. I propose to abandon this proposal and discuss with colleagues a new concept of work.
Dmitriy.
There is still a boorish attitude in the letter. Let's compress to the minimum possible amount of text:
This proposal is not suitable, the result will be of poor quality. Discuss another option with colleagues.
Now everything is said dryly and to the point. The meaning is the same, but the feeling of writing is completely different: aggression has disappeared.
Now let's remember that Ivan is not a dumbass who cannot work, but a normal person who works with us on a common task. How can I help him? Let's add details to make it easier for Ivan to understand our idea:
Ivan! This proposal does not fit. If we catch errors after the announcement, we will have a lot of abusive reviews in the app store, and the rating will drop.
Alice had another option - organize closed groups for early testing. Please contact Alice to discuss how this might work. Her TG: @alice_tester.
Dmitriy.
Class: no annoying words, no passive aggression, only constructive discussion. Dmitry respects Ivan's opinion and does not consider him an idiot; Dmitry wants Ivan to find it easier to come up with a solution, so he directs him to Alice, gives her contact and briefly retells the idea. And not a single "Sincerely".
We talked about neutral tone and annoying words. From this conversation, the wrong conclusion can be drawn: most people react normally to the appeal of a "colleague", but there is a minority that gets irritated, you have to adjust to the minority. This is not true.
The point is different. We do not write to the minority or the majority, but to a specific person. We have a goal: to get advice, make an appointment, agree on cooperation. It is easier to achieve this goal if the recipient will enjoy reading the letter.
It does not matter at all how any other people will react to this letter, a textbook on the stylistics of the Russian language or Ilyakhov and Sarycheva. There is us, there is a reader. And mark our word, the word "colleagues" will almost certainly infuriate him.
Another question is that it is not the words that are important, but the intention. Here's an example of a letter that has all of these words:
Good day, dear colleagues!
This is inconvenient, but a big request for understanding.
To make the resettlement as painless as possible, I booked five meeting rooms for 2-6 people and made lists of where to sit. I proceeded from who works with whom, so that it does not turn out that you are working together, but sit on different floors. For those who work alone, I found places in neighboring departments and agreed that tables would be freed for you.
I am attaching lists of who works where on Friday. You are kindly requested to read and inform me if rearrangements are needed. I'll take care of everything. Thanks in advance for your understanding!
Your office fairy Olya.
Olya's letter is caring: it is clear that she does her job with high quality so that her colleagues feel comfortable. Olya can add ten more annoying words to such a letter, but it will remain good, because her intention is more important than words.
At the same time, no one bothers to improve the writing at the word level. using a neutral tone:
Hey!
There will be a general cleaning at the office on Friday. We will have to move on this day to the meeting rooms and neighboring departments.
This is inconvenient, but it must be experienced.
To make the resettlement easy, I booked five meeting rooms for 2-6 people and made lists of where to sit. I proceeded from who works with whom, so that it does not turn out that you work together, but sit on different floors. For those who work alone, I found places in neighboring departments and agreed that tables would be freed for you.
I attach the lists of who works where on Friday. Look and say if rearrangements are needed, I will organize everything.
Olya, office manager
The meaning of the letter has not changed, but it has won in tonality: it has become more human. And Olya from a romantic person turned into a professional.
It is impossible to go wrong with a neutral tone. There is nothing in it that could annoy the reader. It suits the majority, minority, specific recipient and group. A neutral tone suits informals and formalists, teenagers and professors, bosses and subordinates, chauvinists and feminists, colleagues and clients. If we have good intentions, a neutral tone will keep our words from being mistaken.
(1) In my opinion, the dear to our ears "good morning", "good evening" and "good afternoon" differ from the more neutral "hello" in that, wishing to be more pleasant and less formal, the interlocutor took the trouble to mention a specific time of day in his greeting . If, not knowing what time of day you have, he talks or writes about "good time of day" in general, then it already looks like a parody. Imagine that without knowing the name of the interlocutor, for the sake of pleasantness, you will greet him like this: "Hello, owner of the name ".
(2) On the other hand, the greetings "good morning", "good evening" and "good afternoon" are expressed in the nominative case and, if you think about it, these are exclamations and a call for empathy, joint joy about what happened to be good morning (day, Again, all this becomes meaningless if you and your interlocutor are separated by many time zones, or if you do not write and read text at the same time.
(3) And finally, "good time of the day" is written in the genitive case, which in Russian means a wish, traditionally used precisely as a farewell, and not as a greeting. But even if you replace it with "good time of the day", items 1 and 2 remain in force.
And here is the opinion of the famous linguist D.F. D., prof. M. A. Krongauz, given on the site Gramota.ru:
The use of greetings is regulated not so much by rules (it is appropriate to talk about the rules when it comes to spelling), but by the norms of speech etiquette. Here is what he writes about greeting Good night! renowned Russian linguist, Ph.D. D., prof. MA Krongauz in the book "Russian language on the verge of a nervous breakdown" (Moscow, 2008): Among the new "freaks" of speech etiquette, there are native Russians. One of the most disliked by me is the new and already well-established “Good night!” Greeting. It appeared along with a new phenomenon - direct night air. First, in the speeches of the presenters, who in this way - with a special chic - greeted the audience / listeners who called the studio at night. Then "Good night!" was picked up by the callers themselves and even went beyond studio conversations. For example, it is sometimes used as a greeting when a phone call is too late. In fact, the appearance of such a greeting is contrary to many norms of the language. Firstly, in European languages a similar formula (good night, Gute Nacht and bonne nuit) is used exactly when parting, as opposed to daytime greetings such as English good morning, good evening, German Guten Morgen, Guten Tag, Guten Abend or French bonjour. bonsoir. This corresponds to the usual Russian goodbye "Good night!" Secondly, in Russian "Good night!" as a farewell formula already exists, although it is used much less often than "Good night!" Thirdly, it presents the genitive case, which in Russian means a wish, which is traditionally used precisely as a farewell: "Bon voyage!", "Good luck!", "Happiness to you!" and so on (with the verb “I wish” dropped). The greeting is expressed in a different case ("Good afternoon!", "Bread and salt"!). Recently, by analogy with this, new "incorrect" greetings have appeared. For example, on the Internet, it is increasingly common "Good day!", highlighting the fact that an email can be received at any time. As a linguist, I would strongly recommend not to undermine the harmonious system of Russian etiquette and not to use greetings in the genitive case. On the same Internet, there is a more literate greeting "Good time of the day!" The game is saved and the rules are followed. But with all this, I run the risk of being in the position of authors who fought with the goodbye "Bye!" After all, the last point is put not by the linguist, but by the people. And if the word takes possession of the masses, and the masses - the word, then no linguist can forbid it. So let's wait and see.
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Nowadays, in order to write correctly, you can rely on autocorrect in your phone. In order to speak correctly, you still have to read books and learn Russian. Sometimes the phrase you hear seems simple enough right up to the moment when it needs to be written.
Editorial staff site fights for the purity of the Russian language and therefore has collected phrases that we often pronounce with errors.
1. "I am eating"
Modern norms of the Russian language define the use of the word "eat" only in relation to children or women.
The use of the verb "eat" in men's speech about themselves (I want to eat, I eat, I did not eat) contradicts the stylistic norm of the Russian language. This phrase gives the speech a mannerism and qualifies as a manifestation of philistinism in speech. In other words, you need to treat yourself more simply and say simply: "I eat", "I ate."
2. "Upon arrival"
As the teachers of the Russian language say: "If everyone says 'upon arrival', this does not mean that this is correct." The preposition "by" (meaning "after something") is used with nouns in the prepositional case. Therefore - “upon arrival”, “upon arrival”, “upon completion”.
3. "Generally"
So many variations of the spelling of these two words are not found in our time. It is worth remembering only these two, because only they are correct. And no need to blame T9 and autocorrect in the phone.
4. "Silent glanders"
The expression "quietly" in the meaning of "stealthily, slowly, imperceptibly, unhurriedly" originally meant "secretly dig, dig a secret tunnel": glanders are a trench or ditch for approaching the fortress.
The reflexive suffix "-s" or "-sya" denotes an action directed at oneself. I wash - wash myself, dress - dress myself. It turns out that I apologize - I excuse myself. Also, modern dictionaries refer to this form as vernacular. Better to use the forms "sorry" and "sorry".
6. "More or less"
Currently, the correct ways of writing, and therefore pronunciation, are "more or less" and "more or less". The formal variant (as well as stylistically neutral) is the first variant of writing the phrase - in 3 words. With a hyphen - mostly used as a colloquial form.
7. "Squeaking at the heart"
And not "holding the heart".
"Reeling" is the same as "strengthening". The heart does not creak - it is held together. Synonyms for this turnover: "against the will", "against their convictions", "not at the call of the heart." This expression is associated with the movement of grasping oneself by the hand for the heart with strong excitement, that is, it literally means "to make the heart strong."
8. "There is a place to be"
“... the genitive case, which in Russian means a wish, traditionally used precisely as a farewell:“ Bon voyage! ”,“ Good luck! ”,“ Happiness to you! ”, Etc. (with the verb“ I wish ”dropped). The greeting is expressed in a different case (“Good afternoon!”, “Bread and salt”!) ”.
“... on the Internet,“ Good day! ”Is more and more common, emphasizing the fact that an e-mail can be received at any time.
"Russian language on the verge of a nervous breakdown", M. A. Krongauz
Do you get upset when you open a letter or message that begins with “Good afternoon!” At night? Maybe it's worth fighting for the beauty and purity of the "great and mighty", giving up trying to come up with something new, and using the universal "Hello!" and in emails too?
10. "Sink into oblivion"
