Email survey fuels a satirical look at workplace hostility disguised as politeness

The Guardian’s 31 October 2026 column cited a ZeroBounce survey in which 52% of respondents selected “just to be clear” as a disliked passive-aggressive email phrase. “Per my last email” and “as previously discussed” each drew 40%. The supplied article did not specify the survey’s sample size, location or methodology.

The writer then offered a satirical account of professional email conflict, describing how cheerful greetings, exaggerated thanks and apparent apologies can disguise hostility. Copying colleagues and forwarding earlier correspondence featured as ways to score points in an exchange. But the column ended by questioning that satisfaction and favouring disengagement over another carefully worded attack.

The column’s focus is the gap between an email’s courteous wording and its intended sting, particularly when colleagues are copied into a dispute. Its examples are personal commentary rather than evidence of wider workplace effects. The survey offers reported preferences, but the article does not establish how representative those responses are.