quotes (particularly from song lyrics) in email signatures C/D

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i don't for the life of me see why someone would want to send out the same "clever" quote or "profound" lyric in every single email.

i had a coworker whose every email ended with a apropo-of-nothing magnetic fields lyric (it wasn't even one of stephin's clever lines, it wasn't even intended to be clever). and then you have people whose signatures include some tasty morsel of wisdom/irony from folks like gandhi, oscar wilde, or molly ivins.

i once corresponded with an academic--this was for work--whose every email ended with the springsteen line "born down in a dead man's town/first kick i took was when i hit the ground." um, ok.

― amateur!st (amateurist), Thursday, 22 July 2004 18:12 (twenty-one years ago)

Things like that annoy the hell out of me. Even one of my best mate's ends every email with a line from Easy Rider.

― Sick Mouthy (Nick Southall), Thursday, 22 July 2004 18:24 (twenty-one years ago)

but it made you think, i bet.

― amateur!st (amateurist), Thursday, 22 July 2004 18:25 (twenty-one years ago)

i had a coworker whose every email ended with a apropo-of-nothing magnetic fields lyric (it wasn't even one of stephin's clever lines, it wasn't even intended to be clever).

that's what's good about it.

― ken c (ken c), Thursday, 22 July 2004 18:26 (twenty-one years ago)

i used to have a signature randomiser for my email. i was 19 and thought it'd get me girlfriends.

― ken c (ken c), Thursday, 22 July 2004 18:27 (twenty-one years ago)

"i had a coworker whose every email ended with a apropo-of-nothing magnetic fields lyric (it wasn't even one of stephin's clever lines, it wasn't even intended to be clever)."

yeah, but it was one of his boring songs, and the lyric meant nothing out of context (it was the "grand canyon" thing). but i must have received 20 emails a day that concluded with it.

― amateur!st (amateurist), Thursday, 22 July 2004 18:28 (twenty-one years ago)

I do that with my emails. Much to Am's chagrin, I'm sure, it's a Saint Etienne lyric. I figure if the recepient doesn't like it, they can not read it.

― Gear! (Gear!), Thursday, 22 July 2004 18:28 (twenty-one years ago)

but why? why include a lyric in your email? to what purpose? (these are honest questions, i'd like to know your thought process.)

― amateur!st (amateurist), Thursday, 22 July 2004 18:30 (twenty-one years ago)

The Easy Rider line is "all we represent to them, man, is someone who needs a haircut". It persueded me NOT to see the film.

― Sick Mouthy (Nick Southall), Thursday, 22 July 2004 18:32 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm hoping I'll get girlfriends.

actually, I don't know. Strangely enough, whilst I'm not troubled by email sigs, I can't stand sigs on newsgroup/message board postings. In my yahoo signature, it's pushed way down to the bottom and out of sight.

― Gear! (Gear!), Thursday, 22 July 2004 18:33 (twenty-one years ago)

My roommate's email sig is a Monty Burns quote. "Since the dawn of time, mankind has yearned to destroy the sun". The backgrounds on her checks that she pays me rent with have Marvel superheroes on them. I heart her.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Thursday, 22 July 2004 19:29 (twenty-one years ago)

It's like wearing a t-shirt even in email. I dunno, everyone did them in 1995, it seemed appropriate. I wasn't aware that people still used them, apart from all those major corporations who haven't yet found a way to make emails self-destruct.

Some guy on a forum I used to post to used something I said as a signature for a while. I really didn't like this idea.

― nabiscothingy, Thursday, 22 July 2004 19:30 (twenty-one years ago)

Maybe I'll start doing this in my posts to ILX!

The only thing Columbus discovered was that he was lost!

― Pleasant Plains (Pleasant Plains), Thursday, 22 July 2004 19:32 (twenty-one years ago)

So, what's everyone up to?

The only thing Columbus discovered was that he was lost!

― Pleasant Plains (Pleasant Plains), Thursday, 22 July 2004 19:34 (twenty-one years ago)

This is one of the ten most shudder-inducing phenomena ever. If they're not bad song lyrics (and even good song lyrics end up just sounding dumb), they're smug witticisms that only people who spend too much time 'flaming' people find funny.

― Fergal (Ferg), Thursday, 22 July 2004 19:35 (twenty-one years ago)

i saw a kid walking down fullerton yesterday, wearing a "fuck you you fucking fuck" t-shirt.

― amateur!st (amateurist), Thursday, 22 July 2004 19:35 (twenty-one years ago)

revelation: i guess my problem with the world is that it is corny.

― amateur!st (amateurist), Thursday, 22 July 2004 19:35 (twenty-one years ago)

I think that's going to become my new work e-mail signature, considering this job is doomed anyway.

― Gear! (Gear!), Thursday, 22 July 2004 19:36 (twenty-one years ago)

I think I had a t-shirt that said that once. As a youth.

Oh, also there's the thing where you spell out the wishfully grandiose nickname you've chosen for yourself using ASCII. But that's more of a webforum thing.

― Fergal (Ferg), Thursday, 22 July 2004 19:36 (twenty-one years ago)

.sig files in general are SO 1993. People at work still use them and feel obliged to include 10 lines of tripe: name again, address, phone, maybe a stupid quote AND THEIR EMAIL ADDRESS AGAIN

Uhh, your email address is in the From line of your email already.

― Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Thursday, 22 July 2004 19:36 (twenty-one years ago)

"Strangely enough, whilst I'm not troubled by email sigs, I can't stand sigs on newsgroup/message board postings."

Especially when it's Insane Clown Posse quotes.

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Thursday, 22 July 2004 19:37 (twenty-one years ago)

I don't mind corniness. I do mind people who have an "everything is sunny and smiley and nothing affects me!" attitude.

― Gear! (Gear!), Thursday, 22 July 2004 19:37 (twenty-one years ago)

Carpe Diem!

The only thing Columbus discovered was that he was lost!

― Pleasant Plains (Pleasant Plains), Thursday, 22 July 2004 19:39 (twenty-one years ago)

I am completely in favor of other people doing this

― artdamages (artdamages), Thursday, 22 July 2004 20:18 (twenty-one years ago)

I totally do that with a Mountain Goats song. On the plus side (I guess), I rarely remember to return emails

― Morley Timmons (Donna Brown), Thursday, 22 July 2004 20:33 (twenty-one years ago)

It's like wearing a t-shirt even in email.

?!?!????

― hstencil (hstencil), Thursday, 22 July 2004 20:38 (twenty-one years ago)

I thought that was brilliant.

― St. Nicholas (Nick A.), Thursday, 22 July 2004 20:49 (twenty-one years ago)

what's wrong with t-shirts?

― hstencil (hstencil), Thursday, 22 July 2004 20:50 (twenty-one years ago)

they don't do your sculpted abs justice

― amateur!st (amateurist), Thursday, 22 July 2004 20:50 (twenty-one years ago)

but my manboobs look great.

― hstencil (hstencil), Thursday, 22 July 2004 20:53 (twenty-one years ago)

BUt I wasn't looking at them. I was just...reading...your t-shirt.

― St. Nicholas (Nick A.), Thursday, 22 July 2004 20:54 (twenty-one years ago)

Stence obv you want people to look at your tits otherwise you wouldn't wear those tight tees with goofy slogans.

― Gear! (Gear!), Thursday, 22 July 2004 20:55 (twenty-one years ago)

I am wearing a plain white t-shirt under a blue dress shirt right now, doof.

― hstencil (hstencil), Thursday, 22 July 2004 20:56 (twenty-one years ago)

stop being such a cocktease

― Gear! (Gear!), Thursday, 22 July 2004 20:56 (twenty-one years ago)

sexist!

― hstencil (hstencil), Thursday, 22 July 2004 20:57 (twenty-one years ago)

quit leading me on!

― Gear! (Gear!), Thursday, 22 July 2004 20:58 (twenty-one years ago)

do you read ANSWER ME?!?!?

― hstencil (hstencil), Thursday, 22 July 2004 20:59 (twenty-one years ago)

if you didn't want me looking at you, you wouldn't dress so skimpily!

― Gear! (Gear!), Thursday, 22 July 2004 21:01 (twenty-one years ago)

oh man, this crossed the line into not-funny about 7 posts ago.

― hstencil (hstencil), Thursday, 22 July 2004 21:02 (twenty-one years ago)

Don't be hasty, we may yet be excelsiored Mr Stencil. We may yet.

― Gear! (Gear!), Thursday, 22 July 2004 21:04 (twenty-one years ago)

too late. Like many things, if you're trying for it, it'll never...

oh good god help me.

― hstencil (hstencil), Thursday, 22 July 2004 21:05 (twenty-one years ago)

Some guy on a forum I used to post to used something I said as a signature for a while

Carsmile Steve used to do this with something I said on Sinister once. But I think he misquoted me.

― ailsa (ailsa), Thursday, 22 July 2004 21:07 (twenty-one years ago)

I love .sig files, and I don't care if this makes me a geek. Shorter and sweeter, and frequently updated to reflect your mood is best. I just changed mine this morning, in fact.

Then again, sometimes when people *don't* ever change them, it can be like a funny schtick or something. It's like a personal motto. When you're on a mailing list, it's a good way to keep track of people. You know, cause people often change their screen names, and some mail programmes don't necessarily display the exact email address. So if you see THAT sig, you think "Oh, that's 'food processors are great' guy."

I agree, that if it's ten lines long or whatever, it's irritating. But it's really no different from having a motto or a crest or something. Back to the Age of Chivalry, I say!

― Ma$onic Boom (kate), Friday, 23 July 2004 06:37 (twenty-one years ago)

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