English term
Poland
"A bit of talcum is always walcum."
Native in: Polish 
Works in: English to Polish, Polish to English
re: dear sir or dear madam
Is there any way to find out the gender of the Proz user if:
* no any trace/indication within the profile text content regarding the person;
* no photo (babies, puppies, kittens appear frequently instead);
* no phone number, no e-mail address;
* a name may be a gender-neutral name or an androgynous name.
There was a good British custom to adding the following: (Mr.) or (Mrs.) or (Ms.) next to the name and surname line.
It is history, I suppose!
Thank you!
| 3 +1 | you may use just dear |
Clauwolf
|
Aug 16, 2023 15:31: philgoddard changed "Field" from "Art/Literary" to "Other"
Aug 18, 2023 17:57: AllegroTrans changed "Field" from "Other" to "Art/Literary" , "Field (write-in)" from "gender " to "Is there any way to find out the gender of the Proz user?"
Responses
you may use just dear
| Thank you very much for your contribution! |
| agree |
Tony M
: Has to be used with care! Whilst in this forum use of first names may be appropriate, in very many other contexts it would not be (it's a very American thing, and doesn't always go down too well elsewhere).
55 mins
|
| disagree |
Sarah Bessioud
: Dear, on its own should be avoided, as Tony has mentioned in the discussion. Any email that starts in that way just goes straight to my bin. I agree, however, with your example of Dear xxx.
1 hr
|
| agree |
Chris Says Bye
: Those who don’t want to be called by their first name can always not share it, Mr M.
4 hrs
|
Discussion
I think, you should probably evaluate the answer neutrally if you don't mind, because in your the same evaluation you one time criticize the answer and then praise it.
I used a "Let's use the Proz example" in the context to my question here since I do belive that a "Let's..." is a synonymic equivalent to a "say" which does not indicate that smth is to happen in the cartain place exclusively'.
Did I post the errant question which in the EN/EN language pair treats the issue as the linguistic problem on a correctness?
The great translators from Proz have nicely and helpfully contributed to the problem here, none of them banished me to the forum.
And, finally, I beg your pardon, who you are to advise users to move problems to fora? No offense, maybe you're the appropriate one here.
Thank you very much!
I also learned in the last century that it was correct to write Dear Sir to a person whose name and gender one did not know, but many people do not like it in 2023.
I even know straight men who snort and mutter: ´Don´t call me sir´.
I might write Dear Sir or Madam as a last resort, but first I would certainly consider all the other options suggested above.
I write Dear Accounts Team in mails accompanying my invoices, except when I know the name of the client's accountant, in which case I write ´Hi Inge´ or ´Dear Ms Sørensen´ to correspond with the way she signs her own mails. (The ones I know happen to be women.)
Life was simpler 50 years ago!
The guy who told me that is the IT engineer.
What if a typo will happen... "Deer,"?
let's take... the puppies mommy... she-dog, if a bitch is not being used...
The problem arises, I agree, when you need to make it 'Dear Mr Smith', when you don't know if it mioght in fact be 'Ms Smith'. Several suggestions have been made below for workarounds, depending on the exact context.
As a last-ditch solution, you could even write 'Dear Tony Wood', where the use of the full name obviates any title. Personally, as a Brit, I still find this vaguely uncomfortable, but it is increasingly to be found these ays.
It is not at all "very official" — it is just a polite, business-like, gender neutral way of addressing someone
If you do have a first name, you can just write 'Dear Tony' and no gender is implied or needed.
Dear Colleague and other similar terms could likewise be used.
It's a good idea, though very official... sort of like - Your Highness - get rid of the problem - for instance.