In the days before email, Paul McCartney sang the famous song “PS I Love You” on the Beatles’ 1963 album Please Please Me. but what does ps stand for and how do we use it in modern communication?
what is the meaning of ps?
ps stands for postscript. It comes from the Latin postscript, which literally means “written after”. a postscript is an extra thought added to letters (and sometimes other documents) that comes after they have been completed.
In the days of handwritten and typed letters, we often remembered something we wanted to include only after we had signed it. that’s where a ps came in handy. it is also often used as an effect to add a clever or funny afterthought. can be added for emphasis, or even as an argumentative “so there!” it’s a tool still used in direct and email marketing, which we’ll talk about in a bit.
the d.p. is the most charming part of a letter. is the wink you give as you walk away.
—shaun usher, writer of featured letters for the wall street journal
how to punctuate and format ps
should ps be capitalized? how it is abbreviated; with (p.s.) or without (ps) dots? should you use any final punctuation? surprisingly, there are no clear and quick answers to these questions.
the cambridge dictionary suggests that ps is the proper format in British English.
the cambridge dictionary also says that p.d. (with periods after each letter) is the American English format. In fact, you’ll often find it abbreviated as such in the United States. but the chicago manual of style favors ps, without the periods.
the verdict? usage varies and ps is ignored in most style guides. the safest bet is to capitalize the p and s (use periods after each letter if you prefer) and omit any trailing punctuation.
ps in the email
ps once saved us from having to edit or rewrite an entire letter just to include an important afterthought. but email allows us to go back and edit before sending. technically, we could avoid the use of ps altogether in electronic communication. but should we?
Not really. ps is still useful for effect, and is a great way to get a specific point across. Even though the internet has turned us into a culture of skimmers rather than people who read things like email word for word, we tend to notice what’s at the beginning and end of a text. Can you think of a time when you didn’t read the PS in an email you cared enough to open? Including a pd has long been a direct mail marketing strategy. Statistics once showed that up to 79 percent of people who opened a direct mail letter would read the PS first. Even though times have changed, email marketers still rely on it as a way to reiterate a call to action, create fomo, provide some kind of additional information or offer, or even share a testimonial.
examples of p in a letter
To demonstrate how effective a pd can be, here are some sample letters written by famous and notable people. (read more in note cards).
john lennon
We opened this article with the beatles, so let’s go back to that for a moment. here’s a letter john lennon wrote to a groupie who belittled yoko ono. this postscript is not exactly an I love you.
ronald reagan
This excerpt is from a letter Ronald Reagan wrote to his son, Michael, in 1971, shortly after Michael was married.
felip k. cock
In 1973, four years before its publication, Philip K. Dick sent his agent, Scott Meredith, a draft of his novel into a dark scanner. This cover letter includes an enthusiastic PS.
ricardo feynman
Influential American physicist Richard Feynman (1965 Nobel Prize winner) lost his wife and high school sweetheart, Arline, when she died of tuberculosis at age 25. In October 1946, sixteen months after Arline’s death, he wrote her a tender love letter, which remained in a sealed envelope until after her death in 1988.