I'm writing to a board of directors that are all female. Should I open the letter with 'Dear Madams' which looks a little odd?
Jonathan Ford
Replies (25)
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Wise people
I was once asked by an Englishman why Jesus had not been born in Wales and to my "don't know" he replied that they couldn't find three wise men and a virgin. I did however point out that the wise men were supposed to have travelled over land from a country far to the east.
That shut him up.
Member Since: 16th Jun 2009
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Posting before you became a member. Spooky?
Thanks Jonathan.
So why not go all the way Jonathan and sign it, as Jonathan(the Full Monty)Ford - the one with the revs and hot engine under the bonnet!
They may make you a token male director or at worst their plaything!!
John behave yourself!
John behave yourself. How is Rangers doing these days? Is Dick Advicaat still at the helm? How about getting an Englishman by the name of Terence Venables as the new boss of Rangers.
It seems Celtic have won the championship already and we are not nearer the xmas yet!
Liverpool have sold their prodigal son (Robbie Fowler) and hopefully they will buy Dwight Yorke to help Michael Owen at the front. There is too much reliance on one man at the moment!
Correct term
The correct term is 'Mesdames' but it still looks pretty odd!
How about 'Dear Directors' which would be awfully PC.
Just a suggestion
If I received a letter addressed as "Dear Madams" I would be slightly offended.
I'm no expert but perhaps you could try Dear Directors or address it to the Managing Director by name if there is one???
Diane
Salutations
You know that the directors are all female, but you don't say whether the directors know you.
If you are known to the directors, then either stick to "Dear Directors" or one named individual.
If you aren't known to the directors, then perhaps try "Dear Sir or Madam,". This is what Microsoft Word keeps prompting me with when I write letters to someone I don't know, which seems fine to me.
Hope this helps.
Female greetings
I would begin, "Yo! Ladies!"
Women, of necessity, have to know their place and of course should all be in deference to man!
We are fast becoming too PC, IMHO.
Now each mornng when I switch mine on, I have to consider wheether it is booting up like a man or complaining of a headache like a woman!
Since my hard-disk crash, of course it has been treated like a woman - pampered with daily soothing music and regular back-ups, but it still loses most of its RAM memory over teh course of the day. Hang on a minute, RAM is a male sheep, so it has just had an eternal sex change.
Yo is the word, I guess!
I will awit for the sparks from Phillipa, Nikki etc!
Politically Correct OR Grammatically Correct?
Men,
Too much deliberation over something so trivial (typical men!!). Surely the content of the letter is more important that the salutation?? From a female perspective, I would go for political correctness rather than grammatical correctness. Just get the letter written and go shopping!!
P.S Does my [***] look big in this??
Diane
Alternatively
As Gareth Thomas says (doesn't he play rugby at outside centre for Cardiff and Wales?) it depends on whether they know you. If I know people I write "Dear Susan, Mary and Hazel". If not I write "Mesdames". Note, not "Dear Mesdames", just "Mesdames". If you don't know a group of males then it's "Gentlemen" without the "Dear". Somehow I can't bring myself to write a letter beginning "Ladies" although I would start a meeting "Good afternoon, ladies".
Funny creatures aren't we?
The thing is, this appeared near the top of my 'Most recent replies', even though there was no 2022 reply. It was all 2001. I was about to comment then saw how old it was and left it. Someone else clearly not noticing the date either.
Something, somehow, brought it to the top (a deleted comment perhaps).
I must admit, seeing a thread older than some of the office juniors be resurrected is quite something.
Note to self, don't rely on recent replies option, unless 21 years falls within the definition of recent.
As others have said the plural of madam is mesdames. If that sound unusual it is only because writing a formal business letter to a group of people who are all female is still unusual.
You could assume that they are unmarried (or that their marital status doesn't matter) and use the plural of Miss which is Misses (spoken it sounds like Mrs).
Perhaps your question should have been "What is the plural of Ms?"
Does Ms rhyme with bus? If yes, I've been pronouncing one of them wrong my entire life.
Since they all (Mrs, Ms and Miss) are derivatives of Mistress, perhaps the letter should have read Dear Mistresses. Although, if author was married and their wife read it, it may land them in hot water.
I thought Ms sounded like MuZ, but with the u as an idea of mouth direction to deliberately avoid the i sound.
But in the plural Muses sounds better as Buses than Moozies or Mooses
All the left over and Aweb replacement replies are now a bit out of date
Surely now it is they them?
One can no longer assume Gender just by using reason, biological sex or past knowledge of the person's chosen identity.
Better to knowingly risk possible offence to the Men and Women than to unknowingly offend by missgender.
Isn't, "Oy, you lot" all inclusive, implies no gender or identity, and serves as a greeting?