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English language (monolingual) [Non-PRO] Art/Literary - General / Conversation / Greetings / Letters / Is there any way to find out the gender of the Proz user?
English term or phrase:re: dear sir or dear madam
Let's use the Proz example in the event a need to communicate with the Proz colleague occures.
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!
disagree numero uno 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.
disagree numero due 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'.
Talking to me, dear? :) 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.
So my lecturer in law explained about using he and the masculine form irrespective of gender, unless referring specifically to a female such as a mother, wife, sister etc.
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!
I was told if the sex of the person to whom one is writing is unknown, Dear Sir, irrespective of sex, is the correct form. The guy who told me that is the IT engineer.
If I was writing to you, I'd say "Dear Jacek" or, more informally, "Hi Jacek". Even if I didn't know your gender, it wouldn't matter in English because most nouns don't have one.
The one thing you must avoid at all costs is just writing 'Dear' — on its own like that, this sounds like a very casual, informal term of endearment, utterly inappropriate for any kind of professional context. I get loads of e-mails starting like this with offers of work, etc., and they always go straight in the bin!
In a most formal register, you might use 'Dear Sir / Madam' (or replace the '/' with the word 'or') — even though it might seem more polite, it is not customary to write 'Dear Madam / Sir' 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.
I agree, Mark's suggestion is the best solution! 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.
peer agreement (net): +1