"Gent;lepersons" as Salutation?
galaxicon2000
a salutation instead of "Dear Sirs," or "Gentlemen," ?
I recently came across the salutation "Dear Sirs and
Mesdames" and it seemed rather outdated. Besides, one
would have to continually update ones salutation
based on the (possibly unknown) sexual composition of
the group>
Pat Durkin
"galaxicon2000" <galaxi...@yahoo.com> wrote in message news:81a3ecd3.02051...@posting.google.com...
You could just as well address them as :
Dear People:
Dear Members of the Board:
Dear Officers of the Corporation:
Dear Sales Agent(s) of XYZ Realty:
Dear Director of Human Resources:
Easier, though many do not approve:
To whom it may concern:
I am not convinced that Directors, etc. are all that stuffy, but one never knows how much leeway their secretaries get in filtering possibly undesirable correspondence.
Peter J Ross
removed the following benign growth from galaxicon2000:
> What would you think of using "Gentlepersons" as
> a salutation instead of "Dear Sirs," or "Gentlemen," ?
I'd think (to quote from another thread) that you were taking the
piss. It might count as "polysyllabic humour", but only among friends.
> I recently came across the salutation "Dear Sirs and
> Mesdames" and it seemed rather outdated.
Yes, it's an example of quaintly pretentious businessmen's English,
comparable to "It has come to my attention that I am in receipt of
yours of the 9th inst..."
> Besides, one
> would have to continually update ones salutation
> based on the (possibly unknown) sexual composition of
> the group>
A letter beginning "Dear Sirs" is unlikely to be ignored merely on the
grounds of its potentially displeasing salutation.
PJR :-)
Joona I Palaste
> "galaxicon2000" <galaxi...@yahoo.com> wrote in message news:81a3ecd3.02051...@posting.google.com...
>> What would you think of using "Gentlepersons" as
>> a salutation instead of "Dear Sirs," or "Gentlemen," ?
>> I recently came across the salutation "Dear Sirs and
>> Mesdames" and it seemed rather outdated. Besides, one
>> would have to continually update ones salutation
>> based on the (possibly unknown) sexual composition of
>> the group>
> You could just as well address them as :
> Dear People:
> Dear Members of the Board:
> Dear Officers of the Corporation:
> Dear Sales Agent(s) of XYZ Realty:
> Dear Director of Human Resources:
"Dear People" sounds silly to me. Why not "Dear Humans" just as well?
Or even "Dear Primates", "Dear Mammals", "Dear Vertebrates", "Dear
Animals", "Dear Lifeforms" or "Dear Entities"?
--
/-- Joona Palaste (pal...@cc.helsinki.fi) ---------------------------\
| Kingpriest of "The Flying Lemon Tree" G++ FR FW+ M- #108 D+ ADA N+++|
| http://www.helsinki.fi/~palaste W++ B OP+ |
\----------------------------------------- Finland rules! ------------/
"My absolute aspect is probably..."
- Mato Valtonen
Richard R. Hershberger
> "Dear People" sounds silly to me. Why not "Dear Humans" just as well?
> Or even "Dear Primates", "Dear Mammals", "Dear Vertebrates", "Dear
> Animals", "Dear Lifeforms" or "Dear Entities"?
If I recall correctly, Isaac Asimov used to use "Dear Gentlebeings".
Richard R. Hershberger
Arcadian Rises
>
>What would you think of using "Gentlepersons" as
>a salutation instead of "Dear Sirs," or "Gentlemen," ?
IIRC W. Safire once suggested just "gentles", as in Shakespeare.
Alistair Gale
Hershberger) wrote:
Brin: Sophonts, ........
--
alistair
Joona I Palaste
> Brin: Sophonts, ........
I do not understand what "Sophonts" means. What does it mean?
--
/-- Joona Palaste (pal...@cc.helsinki.fi) ---------------------------\
| Kingpriest of "The Flying Lemon Tree" G++ FR FW+ M- #108 D+ ADA N+++|
| http://www.helsinki.fi/~palaste W++ B OP+ |
\----------------------------------------- Finland rules! ------------/
"The day Microsoft makes something that doesn't suck is probably the day they
start making vacuum cleaners."
- Ernst Jan Plugge
Alistair Gale
wrote:
>Alistair Gale <alis...@caribsurf.com> scribbled the following:
>> On 15 May 2002 08:39:14 -0700, rrh...@acme.com (Richard R.
>> Hershberger) wrote:
>>>Joona I Palaste <pal...@cc.helsinki.fi> wrote in message news:<abtbcd$n2s$3...@oravannahka.helsinki.fi>...
>>>
>>>> "Dear People" sounds silly to me. Why not "Dear Humans" just as well?
>>>> Or even "Dear Primates", "Dear Mammals", "Dear Vertebrates", "Dear
>>>> Animals", "Dear Lifeforms" or "Dear Entities"?
>>>
>>>If I recall correctly, Isaac Asimov used to use "Dear Gentlebeings".
>>>
>
>> Brin: Sophonts, ........
>
>I do not understand what "Sophonts" means. What does it mean?
See, (click on glossary.)
http://www.tuxedo.org/~esr/sf-words/index.html
sophont
[From Poul Anderson's `Polesotechnic League' stories, going back at
least to 1963]
An evolved biological intelligence. Implies human-level cognitive and
linguistic ability but not necessarily tool use. More specific and
etymologically correct than sentient. Still less common than that
term, but has been used by multiple writers.
I get about 33k hits on google for Sophonts, 600+ for Sophont.
--
alistair
Tony Cooper
If I recall correctly, Isaac Asimov used to use "Dear
Gentlebeings".
Kipling used "Dearly Beloved".
--
Tony Cooper aka: Tony_Co...@Yahoo.com
Provider of Jots & Tittles
Robert Lipton
Tony Cooper wrote:
> "Richard R. Hershberger" <rrh...@acme.com> wrote in message
>
> If I recall correctly, Isaac Asimov used to use "Dear
> Gentlebeings".
>
> Kipling used "Dearly Beloved".
Best Beloved. And Asimov used "Gentle Reader"
Bob
Peter J Ross
removed the following benign growth from Tony Cooper:
> "Richard R. Hershberger" <rrh...@acme.com> wrote in message
>
> If I recall correctly, Isaac Asimov used to use "Dear
> Gentlebeings".
>
> Kipling used "Dearly Beloved".
No, that was Archbishop Cranmer.
"Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today in the sight of God..."
PJR :-)
Stephen Toogood
<p...@britishlibrary.net> writes
Being of an age where we are between our friends' weddings and our
children's weddings, I'm more used to:
'Dearly beloved brethren, the scripture moveth us in sundry places to
acknowledge and confess our manifold sins and wickednesses...'
Step inside that small confessional...
--
Stephen Toogood
Gary Williams
> A letter beginning "Dear Sirs" is unlikely to be ignored merely on the
> grounds of its potentially displeasing salutation.
Or why include the salutation at all.
Given that almost anything I put there is going to appear either
awkward or offensive to _somebody_, I've taken to omitting it
altogether in most business correspondence. I've no reason to believe
that the omission has had any impact at all on the actions taken in
response to my correspondence.
Of course, there's always the risk that without the salutation, the
addressee won't know that he is holding a letter in his hands, but so
far I seem to have been fortunate on that score.
Gary Williams
Padraig Breathnach
We have a useful alternative in Ireland: we can use the Gaelic form "a
chara" or the plural "a cháirde" neither of which is gender-specific.
In my case, as my name is Gaelic, it is not likely to be perceived as
a workaround -- just as language preference.
PB
[But my spelling checker is not happy about it.]