decot@cwruecmp.UUCP (Dave Decot) (10/07/83)
Dear Net.Women Readers: It seems to me that a salutation is unnecessary in any letter. The recipient of the letter presumably knows who the recipient is. When I send electronic mail, I almost never use a salutation. Although I would be severely chastised by the Manuscript Form people, I honestly see no purpose in incorporating into a business letter a line like Dear Sir: /* nobility is for elitists */ Dear Madam: /* either butlerishly stuffy or defamatory */ Gentlemen: /* assumes unknown executives must be male */ Dear Mr. Zircon: /* if sex is unknown, you may be wrong */ /* and if it's not, "he knows he's a man" */ Dear Ms./Miss/Mrs. Zircon: /* you are probably wrong, else ditto */ Dear Zircon: /* not very warm -- detached */ Dear: /* hardly businessly */ To Whom it May Concern: /* give me a break */ Dear Chris Zircon: /* computery */ Hey you: /* abrupt */ Besides, you are already "required" to include the name of the person(s) or divisions with which you are trying to communicate in the inside address. This is a good idea, since businesses have a tendency to mix up paper. In personal letters, the right person is not likely to misroute your letter to the wrong person after opening it! Defend them or abolish all salutations in textual communication! Not complaining about signing my name, Dave Decot ..!decvax!cwruecmp!decot
deb@uiucuxc.UUCP (10/10/83)
#R:cwruecmp:-69000:uiucuxc:22800016:000:473 uiucuxc!deb Oct 9 08:21:00 1983 i have taken to writing all business letters in 'memo' form, i.e. TO: Name/Title of Receiver Address of Receiver FROM: My name/title/address RE: subject of corresondence this eliminates any salutory mention of gender, AND allows me to use the first name of the receiver, thus making the corresondence a touch more personal. also, in formal writing, i often use (s)he to indicate "he or she" it gets the point across and is not cumbersome to the sentence.