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I have noticed in the emails I receive at work that people often refers to others as 'Hi both'. I cannot help to feel a little bit unconfortable when I read it. May I consider as an informal way of referring to other?

Sora
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  • If it's two people, I might expect to see Hello, both of you. (Although it's still a bit unusual in an email.) But just both on its own sounds strange to me. I don't think I've encountered it before. – Jason Bassford Jan 29 '19 at 03:11
  • Well, nobody would use it in a formal situation. You would need to be very good friends to say that. Ancient Greek, as it happens, had a way of referring to pairs: in addition to singular and plural, there was a ‘dual’ both in the conjugation of verbs and in the declension of nouns. Why they had this is not clear. It is certainly not a possibility today. – Tuffy Jan 29 '19 at 03:26
  • Are they only writing to you, or to you and another? – Andrew Leach Jan 29 '19 at 07:30
  • I have often seen "Hi Both" heading emails at work in the UK Civil Service. – Michael Harvey Jan 29 '19 at 07:47
  • @AndrewLeach me and another, sometimes refers to two other people and not me, but I am in the thread. When I refer to two people I write their names instead of referring to them as 'both' because I found it unpolite, lazy and inpersonal (I could be wrong). more than two I write "Hi everyone" – Sora Jan 30 '19 at 01:59
  • Echoing @Sora, I'd use "Hi all" or "Hi everyone" in familiar contexts even with 2 people if I really couldn't be bothered typing both names (or for some reason had their email but still couldn't spell/didn't know their name), but definitely using 2 names would be better. – Stuart F Nov 22 '19 at 12:10

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'Hi both' is lazy and impolite. Full stop. Hi both is Ridiculous! I am not sure how on earth this has made its way to the business world as some sort of a safe writing style. Unless you're sending a casual email to friends, this should never be in a professional email.

Ben Sam
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  • This answer is very proscriptive. Do you have any arguments supporting your premature conclusion? Or a reference pointing out why something that may be friendly in casual writing should never be friendly in formal writing? Do we need to maintain an aura of distance in business? I mean, your answer sounds neither formal nor friendly, so I'm a little confused. – vectory Dec 22 '19 at 15:50