I’m sure it was covered decades ago in one of my English classes, but in recent years, I’ve come to regard “Dear Sir” or “Dear Madam” or “Dear (name)” as odd. I mean, I can see using the “Dear” in a letter to Mom back home, or in thank-you notes to Grandma, or at the forefront of passionate prose to Peggy Sue, but…to a stranger?
It may well be only convention that nobody thinks twice about, but why? “Dear” to me suggests a familiarity and a fondness that largely doesn’t exist in business letters to strangers. So, is it a holdover from more formal times gone by, its usage unchanged because nobody feels a necessity to find a term that denotes respect without assuming friendly rapport? Surely someone can relieve this itching, burning sensation in my brain that’s commonly known as curiosity!
It’s only unchanged if you want it to be. By the 1980s it was already standard to use a variety of alternate salutations that didn’t involve Dear in any form.
When I learned it, a formal business letter to someone you didn’t necessarily know or know well was addressed simply Name: (John Smith: or Jane Doe: for example) using a colon instead of a comma. You could use To:, especially if it was addressed to multiple people. You might also add a Mr. Ms. Mrs. Dr. or some other title, and might include the person’s company and/or position there. (To Mr. John Smith, President of Smith Enterprises: )
The dear was only added if you wanted to convey familiarity and/or friendliness, and that’s sometimes desirable even in a business letter. But when it’s not, you can leave it off.
For the same reason that you close with “Yours sincerely” or “Yours truly” when you aren’t (or for that matter, “Je vous prie, Monsieur, de bien vouloir agréer l’expression de mes sentiments distingués” when you couldn’t give a toss whether Monsieur does or doesn’t).
Yeah, i think that just putting Firstname Lastname sounds too peremptory, especially is it’s the sort of letter where you’re asking for something (applying for a job; requesting assistance; seeking collaboration) or trying to engage in formal-yet-still-friendly communication.
Well, we are talking business communication here. First grade seems about right.
I’m with the OP. And can we do something about the “Sincerely” at the end?
I got a nasty letter from an attorney that started out “Dear” and ended “Sincerely”, like we’d been dating for a while or something. In between, the gloves were off. I guess you could make a case that she was very sincere in the body of the letter, except that she started out calling me dear.
There was a great guy in (I think) Switzerland who I used to deal with a lot at a previous job. His English skills were not top notch, but he was always enthusiastic. He began every email to me with:
