letter writing - Unremitting salutation


Even though I am all in favor of salutations and complimentary closes, when exchanging more than a couple of mails with the same person, I feel that starting yet another reply with Dear Mr. Smith gets somewhat worn and moreover stiff, even awkward if you like.


Hence, I was wondering whether it would be considered ill-mannered to drop the salutation after the first (second, third?) mail and jump to addressing the actual subject matter directly.


Correspondingly, if I drop the salutation, should/can I omit the valediction as well?



Answer



I often leave off the "Dear" in such circumstances:



Mr Smith:
In regards to our previous conversation...



Moreover, if Mr. Smith has signed one of his emails to me in a manner such as this:



Best regards,


Jeff


Jeff Smith
President, EL&U Inc.



Then I might take that as a cue, and I may take the liberty of beginning subsequent emails thusly:



Jeff,
Thanks for getting back to me...



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