Stephen Mercer, who works at National Instruments, solves the “How do I sign a business email” problem. Here’s the answer, in his own words.
I had an internship at another company. One of the guys there invented the word. He didn’t like using “Sincerely” at the end of his work e-mails because often there wasn’t any emotional content to the e-mail. When he used “From”, he was told that some coworkers felt he was being cold and unsociable. So he coined “Pojundery”, which literally means “the last word before I sign my name”. It was flowery enough to sound engaging, yet devoid of any real significance. Several folks in R&D at that other company used it, and I picked it up too. I kept using it at NI for business communications mostly because I enjoyed encouraging a new word, but I found it paid additional dividends: everyone here remembers my e-mails.
He even made the Urban Dictionary.
A little humor goes a long way.
(Thanks Evelyn and Mike.)
