The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #53107 Message #817463
Posted By: McGrath of Harlow
03-Nov-02 - 12:21 PM
Thread Name: BS: Dear Sir or Madam...
Subject: RE: BS: Dear Sir or Madam...
"Ma'am" in England tends to be reserved for addressing the Queen. Which I very rarely need to do.
The Irish solution "A Chara" is far the neatest, but it's not really usable outside Ireland. (What about Scots?)
I agree the best way sometimes is to use the job title. In which case maybe it's as well to avoid writing "Dear Madam" in normal circumstances, for fear of musinderstandings.
Finding the actual name is best - though even that doesn't avoid all the problems. For example, is it "Dear John" or "Dear Mr Smith", or "Dear John Smith". Quakers tend to use the latter and it makes a lot of sense - especially when the recipient has a name that don't tell you the gender, such as Robin or Evelyn (and also avoids all the Ms/Mrs/Miss hassles). But some people think it sounds overfamiliar to a total stranger.