"Sorry to bother you" in an email? [duplicate] - Academia Stack ...

Yes, the "Sorry to bother you, but, ..." is filler, but/and is a sort of formulaic politeness, which is its only genuine virtue. If the overall ... AcademiaStackExchangeisaquestionandanswersiteforacademicsandthoseenrolledinhighereducation.Itonlytakesaminutetosignup. Signuptojointhiscommunity Anybodycanaskaquestion Anybodycananswer Thebestanswersarevotedupandrisetothetop Home Public Questions Tags Users Unanswered Teams StackOverflowforTeams –Collaborateandshareknowledgewithaprivategroup. CreateafreeTeam WhatisTeams? Teams CreatefreeTeam Teams Q&Aforwork Connectandshareknowledgewithinasinglelocationthatisstructuredandeasytosearch. Learnmore "Sorrytobotheryou"inanemail?[duplicate] AskQuestion Asked 2years,4monthsago Active 2years,4monthsago Viewed 67ktimes 7 Thisquestionalreadyhasananswerhere: HowshouldIphraseanimportantquestionthatIneedtoaskaprofessor? (1answer) Closed2yearsago. IrecentlysentanemailtoaprofessoraskinghimaboutanadministrativeproblemIwashaving,butafterI'dhitthesendbutton,IrealizedI'dforgottosay:"Sorrytobotheryou"orsomethingofthatsortinthebeginning... NowI'mwonderingisthatconsideredimpolite?Shoudyouapologizetoprofessorsforbotheringthemordoesthatjustmakeyousoundphony?Igreetedhimwith"DearProfessorX",toldhimwhoIwas,askedthequestion,andthankedhiminadvance. Heansweredmyquestionandall,butI'mjustaskingforfuturereference. professorshipemail Share Improvethisquestion Follow askedAug23'19at21:52 lmclmc 17511goldbadge22silverbadges77bronzebadges 7 @ndplYes,hewas. – lmc Aug23'19at21:56 25 RelevantPhDComic. – G.Chiusole Aug23'19at22:10 3 Pleasestateyourcountry. – user111955 Aug23'19at22:22 2 Itendtoignorethat.Igetannoyedwhentheemailendswith"Pleasedotheneedful'. – Prof.SantaClaus Aug23'19at22:39 2 Ifyouareaskingtheguytodosomethingforyou,startingtherequestwith"please"andendingtheemailwith"thankyou"isfine.Morethanthatisjusttimewastingforthesendertypingit,andthereceiverreadingit.Youhavealready"bothered"theguywhenhemadethetimetostopwhateverelsehewasdoingandreadyouremail,sodon'tapologizeforwhatyoucan'tavoid! – alephzero Aug24'19at10:05  |  Show2morecomments 4Answers 4 Active Oldest Votes 35 Ithinkthat@ndplhitthenailontheheadwhenhecommentedthatwhat'smostimportantisthatyourmessagetotheprofessorbeclearandconcise. DuringanacademicsemesterI,likemostacademics,getacrazynumberofemails.(I'manassistantprofessorofmathematicsatacollegeintheUS.)IfyouremailisshortandtothepointthenchancesareI'llbeabletoreaditrightaway,decidewhatactiononmypartneedstobetaken(ifany),andmoveontothenextemail.Emptystatementslike"I'msorrytobotheryou."arepolite,butjustmakemygoalofgettingthroughalltheunreadmessagesinmyinboxthatmuchhardertoachieve. Soifyouremailwaswritteninaprofessionalmanner,butwasjustterse,that'sabsolutelyfine. Share Improvethisanswer Follow editedAug23'19at23:10 answeredAug23'19at22:21 user109454user109454 5 2 Yes,the"Sorrytobotheryou,but,..."isfiller,but/andisasortofformulaicpoliteness,whichisitsonlygenuinevirtue.Iftheoveralltoneofyouremailispolite,thatparticularformulaicphrasecanbeomittedwithoutharm.But/also,ifyouroutinelyincludesuchphrases,it'snotsoooohardtofilterthemout.:) – paulgarrett Aug23'19at22:33 Couldyouwritewhichculturesyourexperiencerefersto? – user111955 Aug23'19at23:09 1 @paulgarrettit’snotfiller-itshowsalackofthoughtandislikelytoannoy.Ifyou’resorryaboutsomething,don’tdoit. – rhialto Aug24'19at12:01 2 @rhialto"Sorrytobotheryou"isaverycommonphrase,intendedtopolitelyaskforsomeone'sattention.Itdefinitelydoesn'tshowalackofthought."Ifyou’resorryaboutsomething,don’tdoit."suggestsyou'retakingthephrasefartooliteral. – marcelm Aug25'19at0:09 @marcelmit’saverycommonphrase,usuallyusedimproperly.Justbecauseit’scommondoesn’tmeanitshouldbecopied.Farbettertoavoidsomethingunnecessarythatmakesthereaderthinklessofyou. – rhialto Aug25'19at8:05 Addacomment  |  6 I'mnotaprofessor,butasaprofessionalwhoworksinanofficesetting(andgetsalotofrandomrequestsforhelpfrompeopleIbarelyknow),I'dsay:it'sprobablygoodtogetyourselfoutofthehabitofusingfillerlike"sorrytobotheryou".Ipersonallyfinditdisconcerting,asifpeopleassumeI'msomekindofogrethatisjustaslikelytochomptheirheadoffastohelp. Certainlypolitenessandconcisionareimportant,butothershavealreadyhighlightedthis.Keepinmindtoothatyourprofessorisawarethatonedayyouwill,hopefully,betheircolleague/work-equal,andthatassuch,conductingyourselfinaprofessionalmanner(whichincludesholdingyourselfinesteem)willbeimportant. Edit:myonlyexperienceisworkingwithintheUnitedStates,sothisanswerisintendedonlytoapplythere. Share Improvethisanswer Follow editedAug23'19at23:10 answeredAug23'19at22:48 HFBrowningHFBrowning 16144bronzebadges 3 1 Couldyouwritewithculturesthisanswerrefersto? – user111955 Aug23'19at23:09 @user111955done,thanks. – HFBrowning Aug23'19at23:10 "peopleassumeI'msomekindofogrethatisjustaslikelytochomptheirheadoffastohelp"That'stheimpressionIgetoftheimpressionthatpeoplehaveofprofessorsasanon-academic.Peopletreatthemliketheonlyprofessionalswhoareeverbusy. – GregoryCurrie Aug25'19at2:15 Addacomment  |  4 Perhapsit'sworthmakingonepointclearer:certainlyblatheringpseudo-politenessesissillyandoff-putting,BUTdemonstrablyknowingthecurrently-acceptedformsofpolitenessesisitselfafilter,whichyou'dwanttopass. Thatis,knowingwhatexactlytosaythatiscurrentlyconsideredpoliteandappropriatelyrespectfulforthesituation,isinitselfafilter,whetherornotwethinkithasgenuinemeaning.Butitissurelythecasethatknowingthecurrentformulaicpolitenessesdoesagoodbitinthewayofgettingone'sfootinthedoor. Actually-non-ironically,aspeopletrytouseinternetresourcestofindoutwhatthesuccessfulformulaicpolitenessesare,thecriteriashifttocompensate.E.g.,allthediscussionof"whatmakesagoodX"isself-defeating,insortofaninflationaryway,inthesensethatwhateverthecurrentformulaicanswerisisafailure. Share Improvethisanswer Follow answeredAug23'19at23:01 paulgarrettpaulgarrett 76.4k88goldbadges153153silverbadges302302bronzebadges 2 1 Thisisaverygoodpointthatmypostfailedtoaddress.AsIhavebeenworkingforabout10yearsit'scleartomewhat'srequiredtosendapoliteemailtosomeoneIdon'tknowwell,inmyfield.It'snotasobvioustostudents,especiallybecausethey'relowmanonthetotempole.IwouldstillbeintimidatedifIneededtosendanemailtothedirectorofmyagency – HFBrowning Aug23'19at23:03 @HFBrowning,yes,Ithinkthatmanypeopleerroneouslythinkthatthere'ssomeobjectivepolitenessnotion,while,inreality,"whatsoundsright"changesrelativelyrapidly.Likedetectinga"nativespeaker"ofsomelanguage.Notdeliberatelyprejudicial,but...atestofknowingthecurrentcode.(Hm,notunlikeeveryotherhumanactivity...) – paulgarrett Aug23'19at23:15 Addacomment  |  0 Thismakesnosense,whyshouldyouapologizeforsendinganemail?Iftheygaveyouanemailtocontactthem,thentheyshouldexpectemails...It'snotthesameasinstantmessagingwhereitcaninterruptsomeonewhenyousendit,emailsalreadyhaveanaturalbarrierbetweenyouandtheonewhoreceivesitandsometimebetweenthemisexpected.Afterall,theyarethevirtualizationofletters,imaginesaying"Sorrytobotheryou"whenyousendaletter.Justdon'tthinkaboutit,it'sstupid. Share Improvethisanswer Follow answeredAug25'19at1:15 tralph3tralph3 12111bronzebadge Addacomment  |  Nottheansweryou'relookingfor?Browseotherquestionstaggedprofessorshipemailoraskyourownquestion. TheOverflowBlog TheBashisover,buttheseasonlivesalittlelonger FeaturedonMeta ProvidingaJavaScriptAPIforuserscripts Congratulationstothe59sitesthatjustleftBeta Linked 69 HowshouldIphraseanimportantquestionthatIneedtoaskaprofessor? Related 4 Howtoanswerasupervisor'semailthatincludesandpresentsanotherprofessortoyou? 22 WhatkindofhelpcanIrequestfromaterminallyillprofessor? 74 Isgeneric"thankyou"emailawasteoftimeinacademia? 1 Aboutforwardingemailtoprofessors 7 HowshouldIfeelaboutaprofessorusinganentireonlinecourseforhisowncourse? 24 What'swrongwithmye-mailtopotentialPhDsupervisors? 52 I'mscheduledtograduatenextweekbutmyprofessorhasgoneMIAduetoadeathinthefamily...whatcanIdo? 68 WhydidIreceiveanegativeresponsefromaprofessorwhenemailingaboutcoursecontentandprerequisitesofacourseIamconsideringtaking? 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