Yours sincerely & yours faithfully

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acarol

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Whats the etiquette for 'Yours Sincerely' and 'Yours Faithfully' in written letters, we are having rows here at work over it!
 
In school we were told to use 'Yours faithfully' if it was to an organisation (eg accounts handler) or someone not known to you

and to use 'yours sincerely' if you know the person or mention the persons name at the start of letter
Doesn't seem to be any strict ruels for it though!
Doesn't seem to be any
 
paddi22 said:
In school we were told to use 'Yours faithfully' if it was to an organisation (eg accounts handler) or someone not known to you

and to use 'yours sincerely' if you know the person or mention the persons name at the start of letter
Doesn't seem to be any strict ruels for it though!
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It's what we were taught too but in practice most people seem to just use sincerely these days. Even the more informal Best Regards seems to be more common than faithfully.
 
My interpretation is this:

"Dear Sir/ Madam

Yours faithfully"

or

"Dear John/ Mr Doe

Yours sincerely"
 
I agree with what the others have said and you point out that the "sincerely" or "faithfully" are not capitalised.
 
One workplace I worked in used 'Regards' as a general ending. I used to vary it with 'warm regards/with regards/regards/best regards/kindest regards
until a client said that she used to think it related to what mood I was in!! If I signed a mail 'regards' she thought I was in a bad mood and annoyed at her, whereas 'warm regards' meant I was in great form!!
 
I always hated 'faithfully' so never use it despite what they tried to teach me!

"Yours sincerely" sounds lovely.

In my opinion 'best regards' emerged around the time of faxes and then emails and I would limit them to that. I hate seeing Best regards on a letter.

No wonder people have a hard time learning English (or any lang for that matter)
 
gipimann said:
And don't forget "Mise le meas".....:D
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Can someone explain the correct etiquette for using something such as 'Mise le meas' or ' a chara' ? In fact what does 'Mise le meas' mean ? :confused:

I'm afraid Irish was my worst subject in school. How may it be used when the rest of the letter is in english ?
 
stir crazy said:
In fact what does 'Mise le meas' mean ? :confused:
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Literally: "Me, with regards" so an equivalent of Regards then?

Which to me sounds a little informal - although as far as I can see the phrase, mise le meas, tends to be used in more formal communication.

How may it be used when the rest of the letter is in english ?
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Not sure, but I often see it used when writers are seemingly Irish speakers who find themselves having to write in English for whatever reason.
 
And don't forget "Mise le meas".....:D
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That brings me back!! :) Whenever I needed a note for school (for being absent or late!), my Mum always started the note 'A Chara' & finished with 'Mise le meas'. And she wasn't much of an Irish speaker!
 
Paddi22 Don't know what class you or workmates went to but the word "Regards", warm, kind or otherwise was never allowed anywhere near a business letter in my class.

I'm with Carpenter on this one
 
'Meas' means 'respect'. So it's "Yours, with respect".

Would never use 'regards' on anything other than emails or maybe a compliment slip. It's too casual for business letters.
 
I use "a chara" and "Mise le meas" to some government departments when I don't know who I'm writing to. I generally use "Yours sincerly". To people I know better I will use Best Regards or Best Wishes.

Emails I use 'Regards' or "Kind regards". I have noticed more than once one of my colleagues leaves this out when I have annoyed her by not agreeing with her point of view. If I have to reply to the mail I sign it "warm regards" or "best wishes" to hightlght her child like behaviour.
 
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