atw: Re: Dear Sir/Madam,

  • From: Lana Brindley <lanabrindley@xxxxxxxxx>
  • To: austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Tue, 3 Aug 2010 06:55:17 +1000

Hi Bob,

I work in a fairly informal environment, so possibly I'm not the best person
to comment. For what it's worth though, here's what I do:

If it's addressed to a single person, and I know their name: Hi Tom (less
formal) or Dear Tom (more formal)
If it's addressed to more than one person: Hi everyone (less formal) or
Hello (more formal) or Hi all (very casual)
If it's addressed to a mailing list, or to a an "admin@" or "support@" type
email address: Hi (in all circumstances)

Pet hate: When the email is addressed to "admin@" and the email starts
"Hello Admin". Please acknowledge that there are real people behind those
email addresses, not faceless "admin" (or "support") drones.

I can also understand the use of "Dear Mr Jones" or whatever too, and I
would use it where appropriate. Our company is one of those first-names-only
sort, though, so I don't get much occasion to trot out the Misters and
Misses (which brings me to another point about assuming gender. But that's a
rant for another day).

L

On 3 August 2010 03:33, Bob Trussler <bob.trussler@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> Dear Sir/Madam,
> Is there a standard for the salutation in an email like there is for a
> letter?
>
> Many emails I receive start with Hi or Hey.  This seems to apply to many
> formal emails, and not only my teenage children.
> Some emails have no salutation at all.
>
> Have the days of
>      Dear Pat,  ................  yours sincerly
> and
>     Dear Sir, ....................  yours faithfully
> now gone forever?
>
> The Style Manual refers to letters with Dear Sir and so on, but makes no
> mention of emails.
>
> yours faithfully,
>
> Bob Trussler
>



-- 
Cheers! Lana



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