Have you ever received a short, abrupt reply to your e-mail?

Do you ever wonder if you've said something wrong when you get a abrupt, curt email response?

With more and more communications being sent via email, we often try to read between the lines of a curt response, wondering and worrying about whether we've offended the other person.

But most often it turns out that it's nothing you said or did. Emails with only five words are very common. More than half of email replies are less than 43 words, and only 30 percent of emails are longer than 100 words.

If you're really concerned about whether you've got offside with the other person, pick up the phone or visit them to get 'between the lines' with the richness of an audible and/or visual communication.