Its meant to be as friendly as possible, but is it competitive. The grading of a sign off on an email or letter is tricky. Warm wishes is very friendly, but warmest is even friendlier. So warmest is high on the list, warm, not so.Good wishes by comparison is a little strange as it seems to mean good wishes for you and me, or have i misunderstood.

Yours sincerely, well, that’s ok across the board in my view. Yours truly? Nah! Truly madly silly.

There’s also the matter of the intro. Dear Sir/Madam: cold and impersonal like a circular. Dear First Name? Well you’d better know who is sending the letter/email. As in my view that’s a no-no. Hi then first name. Bloody cheek, who do they think they are? Yo! Sorry, just silly.

My Dear? Verging on ‘the Jane Austen’, or My dearest, which sounds like an expensive relationship.

Darling? Oh for heaven’s sake stop it. You just don’t mean it you silly squidge.

Jane Austen’s desk. Yes, this is where she wrote some of her books.