How to write less formally?

[Judge]

Oh my. In the late 70s I worked in a corporate culture that thrived on formal business English. It was only about five years later when such practices were formally dropped, in favor of familiar and more friendly communications.

LOL. No more, "With reference to the captioned, please be advised....."

 

[Diagnosed2015]

As a writer first, I write how I think, which is very formal (I'm trying to get better, like not proofreading everything I do). The formality of much of my writing, even though it isn't/wasn't intended, led me a a career of writing and proofreading.

I know I often come across as if I am writing an Instruction Manual (of course, I love implementing and typing procedure manuals) and sometimes I'm afraid that even when typing back and forth in a friendly way, it's very noticeable. I can pull out papers I wrote in college, and I was writing the exact same way, even though I don't believe I realized the formality.

I met an Aspie from Brazil who I am in frequent contact with via E-Mail, and she writes exactly how I do, including the verbosity, as if we need to be sure we are absolutely understood, whether we are discussing the weather or sharing a joke.

I was able to market my skills; I don't think I approach things all that differently than other people, but I do tend to come across as if I'm saying, "It needs to be done this way," but I think that's the rational part of me.

The way I was able to convince myself to "lighten up" was to realize no one's paying me to catch mistakes anymore, so I'm not going out of my way to do it. Also, with ADHD it's very difficult to concentrate, and my friends are kind enough to come through (and make light) when I misspell something.

 

[Gabi]

Back to the subject at hand, does anyone have any ideas of how I can soften up my emails?

Thank you.

how about adding some exclamation points at the end of the message or adding smiley faces somewhere in the message?

Example:

Hi X, hope you are well

-insert rest of the message here-

Thank you!!

Kind Regards....

 

[Sully]

When I was a young child I made a mother's day card in school and signed it "Sincerely, first name, last name" instead of signing it "Love" and just my first name. My mother still brings it up and laughs about it occasionally.

 

[Cosmophylla]

When I was a young child I made a mother's day card in school and signed it "Sincerely, first name, last name" instead of signing it "Love" and just my first name. My mother still brings it up and laughs about it occasionally.

Sounds like the sort of thing I did and that my parents have always ribbed me about, too.

 

[Diagnosed2015]

When I was a young child I made a mother's day card in school and signed it "Sincerely, first name, last name" instead of signing it "Love" and just my first name. My mother still brings it up and laughs about it occasionally.

I have a sense that my Mother may have been an Aspie, but she was incredibly awkward in any type of social situation. When I got married, she sent my (then) husband a Christmas Card (to him personally, didn't send me a card) and signed it _______'s Mother.

 

[wanderer03]

Hi everybody,

I get told quite often that I come across quite formal in email's, letter's, texts, etc.

I have an idea of what I want to say but as soon as I start to type it tends to end up that way. I'm not sure if it's due to me having an image of it having a start, middle and an end every time.

For example, if someone that I'm working with from a different department emails me a document that I need, I couldn't just email back "Thanks, S", even the word "Thanks" gets to me. I would respond with a full thank you.

I also seem to start every email with "Hi X, Hope you are well." I don't know where it comes from I do it all the time even though I could have spoken to them five seconds before or know that they are dying of man flu. And I also end with "Kind regards...".

Back to the subject at hand, does anyone have any ideas of how I can soften up my emails?

Thank you.

I really appreciate it when people take the time to compose a well-written email. Let people tell you that you write too formally because there will always be people that appreciate a well-written, grammatically-correct email or letter. In my humble opinion, informal writing is for instant messaging applications or text messages. Nothing is more irritating than to have to decipher a poorly written email. Usually those get placed in the trash bin. Keep up the formal writing!

 

[Oodee]

At first it was really weird for me, that my bf sometimes writes my name on the texts he sends me. Like he would start with "Hi Outi" etc. Then I just got used to it. So he is a formal writer too.
Had the question been about correspondance with friends, I would have suggested you use emoticons, or smiley faces or whatever they are called in english, but I recently read that when used in work, they make people take you less serious if you put them in work e-mails. I didn't read all the answers, so sorry if this was already asked, but do you speak less formally irl when talking face to face? If so, then could you just record the answer you would give if you were really talking to them and then write it down word for word in you e-mail? This might be a stupid idea, but it's the only one that comes to mind that doesn't compromise either your credibility or make you act like someone else

 

[Mr Allen]

I'm a bit like that, I once wrote a letter to a seller on eBay that sounded a bit like a Solicitor's letter, but I'm not a Solicitor and probably never will be.

 

[Progster]

I tend to write in a more formal style than is necessary too, especially texting on my phone as I don't use abbreviations as many other people do.

 

[Bella Pines]

Dear @savi83,

Hope you are well. I do not believe that I have mastered linguistic in-formalities, but have observed that NTs follow a certain pattern for casual commentary. I would suggest therefore using 3-4 letter words, disregarding any grammar and interspersing sentences with "hun" and "lol", for example;

best of luck hun lol

Yours Truely,
-B

 

[MROSS]

Bumping-up discussion thread to reflect the growing uses of 'Artificial Intelligence' (AI).

Has anybody been reminded that their (human) writing styles share similarites to content produced via A.I.?