mediajunk

The way you write emails may contain clues about your personality. So says Alastair Gill, a 27 year-old PhD student at Edinburgh University.

In an interview for the BBC Scotland website, Alastair explains how people are good at guessing the personality types of email authors, even if they do not know them.

"For example, an extrovert tends to be more informal in his or her messages.

That can manifest itself through exclamation marks and multiple punctuation and the use of the word 'hi' rather than 'hello' and the expression 'take care'."

Alastair is working on software that, like a spell checker, will review emails and make suggestions for making them "sound extroverted, emotional or engage in tough-talking."

Sounds gimmicky, but who knows? Best of luck to him, I say...