Did you hear the one about the rabbi, the priest, the minister and the imam?
How about the stupid thing your favorite political figure just said? It’s a hoot!
Or maybe you just don’t care
Humor, irony, and sarcasm do not translate well in email.
The joke, cartoon, or video clip that you find hilarious may well strike your receivers as tasteless, boring, or a waste of valuable time.
Another cost of forwarding “funny” emails is that doing so detracts from your credibility. People who are busy with actual work may wonder how you have time to spend on forwarding dumb emails.
If you are sending funny material from your work computer, remember that you are using company resources – and time – on this personal activity. Moreover, you are publicizing the fact that you’re doing so with every “cute” email you send.
One Anderson respondent wrote, “If not written carefully, someone might take comments made in jest seriously. For example, if someone writes, ‘I feel like a million bucks,’ the reader might think the writer is doing well while the writer may actually be using sarcasm and thinking, ‘I think I just coughed up a lung — I wish you would come put me out of my misery.’”
Cross-cultural communication is a subset of the humor land mine. What’s funny in the US may be offensive in Sri Lanka. In fact, what’s funny in California might be offensive in New York.
Do emoticons help? I think not. If your words can’t convey your tone, either change them so they do so or forget about the joke you were going to send. Emoticons are unprofessional and should not be used in business correspondence. And if you’re writing from work, what you are doing is business correspondence, whether you acknowledge it or not.
In short, be circumspect about writing or forwarding emails that you think are funny. Ask yourself if there is any possibility your email could be taken the wrong way – there usually is. If your jest could be taken seriously or if the message might offend, don’t send it.
And about that witticism you wrote, the one you’re so sure is hilarious? If I may ban witticisms with a witticism, remember Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch’s 19th-century advice to budding writers: “Murder your darlings.”
© 2010 Elizabeth Danziger
Want to schedule an email training for your organization? Call Elizabeth Danziger at (310) 396-8303.