Years ago I started seeing TIA or Thanks in advance at the end of emails and messages, and the thought occurred to me about what these people were trying to say. I’ve never used it, simply because it seemed inappropriate to me. I’ve always used thank you or thanks, meaning that I’m showing my appreciation for anything and everything that the reader might do for me – it’s unconditional.
Some not very thoughtful person came up with this TIA, implying that his thank you is for the future, when and if you have done something for him. In other words now that he has thanked me in advance, I am obligated to do something for him. I thought that was rather shallow minded, and it reminded me of my dog when I was young. We taught her to roll over and rewarded her with a doggy treat. Then when we were eating at the table, she would sit there at our feet, waiting until we looked at her, and then she would roll over with the expectation of being fed a piece of meat. Like, if she could talk, she would say, “Now that I’ve rolled over, you owe me some food.”
Like I said, my thank yous are an unconditional blanket appreciation for anything the reader does for me, even if it’s only reading the message and nothing else. In the last few years, for some reason I have seldom seen anyone use the TIA. I say, good riddance.
