Letter Greetings.......?

Question

So my coworker just got a business letter addressed, "Dear Ken," he said to me.....what do you think of a business letter starting with Dear? Dear is considered a term of endearment and therfore should not be used in formal business?

To me the term is just fine - but in our PC society what do others think???

Answer 1

I think it's fine- certainly better than just a name, or even worse, letters that have no greeting at all. It's better to risk being slightly non-PC than rude or disrespectful. I get a lot of emails with no greeting, and unless it's casual internal correspondence, I find it as unprofessional as an email with no project reference (The Re: line in a formal letter) in the subject line- as though it's the only thing I'm working on at the time. Now, if it were to start out as "Dearest Ken" I might be concerned... unless it's someone really cute.

Answer 2

"Dear So-and-so" has been a standard for so long that I can't even think of another greeting. I doubt that many people see it as a term of endearment when used that way. It depends on the letter and the purpose though. In my opinion, addressing a letter with just the person's name makes the letter a little more "canned" and less personal. I think "Dear Ken" is acceptable.

Answer 3

Found this with the the help of Yahoo:
TrustWatch® Verified Sec.

The Writing Center Guide to Business Letters
(Under the list of how a business letter was to be formed)

#3 Salutation - Type Dear followed by the person's first and last name. The line should end with a colon. If you don't know the person who will read your letter, use a title instead i.e., Dear Editor. If you like, the salutation may be omitted entirely.

~fishineasy~

Answer 4

In letter writing the word dear does not carry the connotation of endearment unless the person you are writing to understands it as that! The word dear is a standard greeting in any type of letter be it business or personal. There are other words that can be used but 'dear' is just fine.

Answer 5

Let Ken know that this is formal business letter etiquette and he's going to have to live with this form of distant and perhaps undeserved sincerity. Does he have any suggestions for a replacement? How about Yo Ken, or Hey Ken or What up Ken???

Answer 6

Virtually all letter saluations begin with "Dear" and is it entirely correct in a formal business communication. Dear Ken is a bit informal; I assume the sender is on first name basis with "Ken".

Answer 7

It has nothing to do with PC. It is proper letter etiquette....Dear Sir, Dear Mr/Mrs, Dear whomever. Have you never learned how to properly write a business letter? Shame on you.

Answer 8

'Dear' is very common, I like to keep business fairly causual so I tend to use "Hello" or "Hi". "Dear", and other casual greetings are ok for internal email, but once you start working with people in other companies, you don't want to make your company look bad.

If you want to keep it sound really formal, like legalise, then you can try "To whome it may concern" or "Attention Bob"

Answer 9

I get junk mail all the time addressing me as "Dear."


"Dear Sir or Madam."


Nothing wrong with that.

Answer 10

It is customary, and is not a sexual advance, tell him to relax.