Sincerely yours

I sometimes feel the need to mix up my letter closings and email goodbyes. Actually, who am I kidding, I hardly ever write letters anymore. Almost all my work correspondence is done via email. Thankfully.

I'm pretty much a "Sincerely" gal, at least on the first email go around. But I hate to keep signing the same extremely pedestrian "Sincerely" all day long.

My next go-to closing is "Best regards." It's solid, right? Professional yet hopeful. But after those two, well, I don't really have a next move. I looked up some correspondence closers the other day. Here's what I uncovered (with my very well thought out comments following):

•Yours sincerely (way too goofy)

•Respectfully yours (good for a stern great uncle)

•Faithfully yours (only good for a lover)

•Yours truly (sounds like Charlie Brown's closing)

•Kind regards (too nice)

• Best regards (!)

•Warmest regards (good for the holidays and winter months, perhaps)

• Kind thanks (Have decided I'm really not down with "kind" at all)

• Truly (seems like its missing something)

• With appreciation (very limited in scope)

• Very truly yours (sounds like Lucy's trying to out do Charlie's closing)

• Sincerely yours (solid, but "yours" is unnecessary)

• Yours sincerely (see above)

• Have a nice day (that is perhaps what my 7 year old would write)

• Thanks (solid and often appropriate)

• Many thanks (the above should suffice, plus has Chinese restaurant connotations)

• Hoping to hear from you (too desperate)

• Warmest personal regards (blech)

• Your pal (was last used in the early 1950s)

• Later (was last used in the late 1990s)

• Very sincerely (you're either sincere or you're not, right?)

• Devotedly (went out in the late 1880s)

• With love (okay for family and friends)

• Very truly (what? very truly what?)

• Cordially yours (blech)

• Regards (Hmm, now here's an option)

• Best wishes (I like this too, although it's kind of ethereal for work, I suppose)

• Warm wishes (holiday/winter only)

• Cheers (quite used these days, I've noticed, but has a ring of "lush" to it)

• I am, Sir, Your Most Humble and Obedient Servant (My very favorite so far!)

• Your friend (only used with childhood foreign pen pals)

• Ever yours (went out in 1904)

• I have the honor to be (Ha! Seriously? This is the cockiest closing ever!)

• Your obedient servant (only used by Mormon wives #1 - 5)

• Thy humble servant (only used by Mormon wives #6 - 10)

• Warmest and most sincere regards (too overachieving)

• Peace out (Was never really in)

• Best wishes for your future (would get folks a bit paranoid, wouldn't it?)

• I look forward to speaking with you (gasp! Never, I don't want to speak to you. Email me back, dude.)

• I look forward to hearing from you (use this in some situations)

• Thank you for your consideration (has its time and place)

• Godspeed! (super PC!)

• Onward and upward (perhaps if I were a geologist, mountaineer, or outdoor explorer of the late 1880s)

• Hugs and kisses (great for grandparents)

• Smell ya later (can you imagine?)

• Later alligator (always a classic)

• See you in the funny papers (Used only by youth in the 1950s - 1960s)

• Shine on! (love it! Could it be my closer #3?)

• May I always live to serve you and your crown (very, very few people you could send this to)

• Loaves and fishes (it speaks for itself, right?)

• Keep it real (Was never ever really in)