The way Austrians use exclamation marks in business correspondence has always irritated me.
July 4, 2007 at 10:20 am | In Austria |Tags: Austrian, Exclamation mark, magister, title
I canceled the contract with my ISP because I am moving to Vienna. I wasn’t sure whether the cancellation was effective or not, because my internet was always buggy - it didn’t work anymore, but that could still have been just a temporary flaw, in particular because my email address was still working. I sent one last email to them trying to find out why that was the case. Here is the reply I got (in translation) - what’s going on with Austrians and exclamation marks?:
Dear Ms. Master Anaj Jones! *
The cancellation has already been done!
The email address is going to continue to exist!
We hope to have been of service to you with this message.)**
*) Austrians are obsessed with titles. If you have a master’s degree (”Magister”), they’ll address you as such.
)** Original:
Sehr geehrte Frau Mag. Anaj Jones!
Die Kündigung ist bereits erledigt!
Die Mailadresse bleibt weiterhin bestehen!
Wir hoffen, Ihnen mit dieser Mitteilung gedient zu haben.
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Oh wow!!! thats kinda strange… We Indians do give importance to degrees… but that hardly is ever used in calling someone… except ofc for Dr. that is…
Comment by Nova — July 5, 2007 #
Loving the ‘recent comments’ widget! Must get one myself! Hope you’ll enjoy Vienna! Must visit you some time!
Comment by lenina — July 5, 2007 #
Hey, wordpress had vamped that up considerably - must have happened in the past two days… there are cheap flights from EDI to CGN and from CGN to VIE, and maybe even direct flight from LDN to VIE! Would be surprised if there weern’t any…
Comment by anaj — July 5, 2007 #