The Perils of Writing to Someone You Dont Know

The Perils of Writing to Someone You Dont Know The Perils of Writing to Someone You Dont Know The Perils of Writing to Someone You Dont Know By Maeve Maddox From a reader: I have a question.   I work for a large Canadian law firm and Ive noticed that many of the people here do not use Mr. or Ms., but rather address letters to John Smith.  Ã‚  Have I missed something?   Is this proper now? It may not be proper, but sometimes its safer. Addressing a letter in the old days was a fairly straightforward undertaking. If the name of the person was Michael Jones, youd say Dear Sir, or Dear Mr. Jones. If you were writing to a woman you could safely address her, married or unmarried, as Dear Madame. Back when the great goal of most women was to find Mr. Right, you could take a chance on starting a letter Dear Mrs. Jones even if you didnt know the recipients marital status. If she wasnt married, shed probably giggle at the error. In these more enlightened days, knowing how to begin a letter to a person you dont know is like walking through a minefield. Current letter-writing guidelines will tell you to address a man as Mr. Jones and a woman as Ms. Jones, but thats pretty simplistic, given the complications of feminism, reactions to feminism, multiculturalism, and creative child-naming. Ideally, the letter writer will check out the person being written to so as to know what form of address to use. But what if, despite your best efforts, you just dont know? How, for example, would you start a letter to Drew Barrymore, Daryl Hannah, or Michael Learned if you dont know all three are women? How are you supposed to figure out the gender of Jordan Dane, Alex Wright, Cory Black. Elliot Simpson, or Jamie Johnson if you know nothing about them but their names? In the age of the world-wide web, what about a name like Ananda Singh? A name ending in -a looks feminine to me, but in India, Ananda is a guys name. Say that you do know that the person youre writing to is a woman. Are you sure you want to address her as Ms. Jones? She may have a Ph.D. and prefer Dr. Jones. She may be a reactionary housewife and detest being called Ms. Or maybe shes single and proud of it and wants everyone to address her as Miss Jones. The people at your law firm are probably less concerned about proper usage than they are about avoiding ruffled feathers. Sometimes the best course of action is to play it safe by using the full name instead trying to juggle a courtesy title. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Business Writing category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:70 Idioms with Heart50 Idioms About Roads and PathsComma After Introductory Phrases