Years ago I decided to conclude most of my business e-mails “Best, Michael.” It seemed to be the best compromise of formal and informal. The Washington Post takes up the matter in today’s edition.

It feels like the 18th century all over again. All that daily correspondence, all those long hours spent hunched over a desk, composing some thoughtful missive about one’s dowry or the Jacobite rebellions. Signed, “Yr humble servant.”