Not the least bit surprised. Writing tends to fossilise old social standards and values and some of those simply won’t stand the test of time. Or common intelligence.
My mother was a commercial secretary. She worked for lawyers, a lumber company, and painters and decorators. She taught me how to write business letters. But she taught me how it was done in the 1950s.
In among my parents' affairs is a file of correspondence. Purchase notes, letters of intimation. The banal kind of stuff that comes at us via website notifications and e-mails these days. The formality isn't far different. The difference is that nowadays we know these messages are generated by machines. In the 1950s they came in an envelope with a stamp, and were signed by a human being.
So, here's the question: is it better to be treated with blank formality by a fellow member of the human race or by an automaton that has been interposed by a fellow member of the human race? In both cases, don't forget, I am the customer. The guy who is paying for the service, or product.
Is the relationship between those who earn and those who pay wages now so radically different from the relationship between those who spend earnings and those who sell services and products to wage-earners? I think it is. The one side still feigns an element of humanisation. The other side tends to the "give us the money and go away." In other words, our relationship to those who pay our wages is being dehumanised but only at a slower rate than our relationship to those from who we purchase, particularly, basic services like electric, gas, phone, water, Internet.
They are wrong. And, no, my official letters never start "Dear Sirs". The plural of Madam is, it's a little known fact, in English as in French: "Mesdames". Be creative.
Dear Sirs, Mesdames,
Mesdames, Sirs,
Write in Dutch and you avoid the whole issue:
Geachte,
I have moved back to officialdom in my e-mails. If we didn't do that, the standard business letter would die out and we'd be swamped with emojis and false sentiments. I take my cue from the sender's e-mail address and their own sign-off.
Dear Robert,
Dear Mr Rado,
Dear Sir ( I happen to know you're male),
Dear RR (at weekends).
You will be interested to learn that this blog post is far and away the most-read of anything I've penned.
Not the least bit surprised. Writing tends to fossilise old social standards and values and some of those simply won’t stand the test of time. Or common intelligence.
My mother was a commercial secretary. She worked for lawyers, a lumber company, and painters and decorators. She taught me how to write business letters. But she taught me how it was done in the 1950s.
In among my parents' affairs is a file of correspondence. Purchase notes, letters of intimation. The banal kind of stuff that comes at us via website notifications and e-mails these days. The formality isn't far different. The difference is that nowadays we know these messages are generated by machines. In the 1950s they came in an envelope with a stamp, and were signed by a human being.
So, here's the question: is it better to be treated with blank formality by a fellow member of the human race or by an automaton that has been interposed by a fellow member of the human race? In both cases, don't forget, I am the customer. The guy who is paying for the service, or product.
Is the relationship between those who earn and those who pay wages now so radically different from the relationship between those who spend earnings and those who sell services and products to wage-earners? I think it is. The one side still feigns an element of humanisation. The other side tends to the "give us the money and go away." In other words, our relationship to those who pay our wages is being dehumanised but only at a slower rate than our relationship to those from who we purchase, particularly, basic services like electric, gas, phone, water, Internet.
To this day, almost all official letters begin with “Dear Sirs.” Is it just me or that’s a tad sexist? What do you think?
They are wrong. And, no, my official letters never start "Dear Sirs". The plural of Madam is, it's a little known fact, in English as in French: "Mesdames". Be creative.
Dear Sirs, Mesdames,
Mesdames, Sirs,
Write in Dutch and you avoid the whole issue:
Geachte,
I have moved back to officialdom in my e-mails. If we didn't do that, the standard business letter would die out and we'd be swamped with emojis and false sentiments. I take my cue from the sender's e-mail address and their own sign-off.
Dear Robert,
Dear Mr Rado,
Dear Sir ( I happen to know you're male),
Dear RR (at weekends).
You will be interested to learn that this blog post is far and away the most-read of anything I've penned.