Grammar Gripes and Other Psycholinguistic Squawkings

Wait, when writing aletter, you have to start with a lower case letter after "Dear XXXX,"?

 

Hah. I've received a number of E-Mails like that. They, in turn, strike me as odd. A colon makes it, somehow in my brain, more formal and distant... as if the beginning wasn't a friendly-but-routine greeting, but a just-routine greeting. The "Dear" part becomes redundant and one may simply just write "XXXX:", no?

That, in my mind, would make the entire message less personal, which is not something you want to do in business, unless you're dealing with a German. Written messages already lack much of the emotive factor, which makes these little nuances all the more important.

Any of the above make sense to you?

SO tells me they do the same thing in Australia. It may simply be a European thing?

And yeah, I pretty much follow German correspondence etiquette.

 

HELP ME!

When writing a formal letter on a cover letter, how do I address the Hiring Manager? I know that I do not address her as "Dear Madam," because I already know her name.

Let's call her Sasha Smith.

So do I address her as Sasha or as Mrs. Smith?

Usually when we interact I just call her Sasha. As i think about this, I don't know if she's married or recently divorced or what ... so maybe just Ms. Smith which means I don't know if you're married or not, I just know you're female. Hopefully.

What would be the best way to kiss my ass to the top?

I mean that in the most professional manner possible.

 

Based on that, most correspondence should do fine with "Dear Sasha,".

If it's a tricky matter or serious business, then I'd go for "Dear Sasha Smith,".

 

Guess I should have reread the whole thread so forgive me if this has already been addressed. Lately I've noticed a lot of people using 'are' for 'our'. What the Hell? I don't even pronounce those words the same way. It hurts my head to read comments anymore.

Example: "Take your filthy government hands off are Medicare" ( I'm sure there were originally misspellings, but I can't stand seeing them either )

 

How about VALENTIMES day....boy that grates

 

i encountered sammich in "the autobiography of malcolm x." i was a bit disappointed to watch it migrate from there out into yuppie-speak as well. maybe it should be retired. after words like "deplane" however. and well after "collateral damage"---which is the phrase of the moment that i think i hate the most.

 

YOLO - 'You only live once' is not hip, nor cool. Reminds me of Froyo which isn't really pleasant-sounding to my ears, either.

 

amiright?
Why add 3 more letters to "right?"
It's forced "I'm so hip and trendy"-speak.
Hate it.

 

Well, actually, it's supposed to be: I purchased life insurance, cause, you know, YOLO! I fastened my seatbelt, cause YOLO! I recently re-invested my stock and have diversified my portfolio, cause YOLO!

Not: Hey guys look!! YOLOOOOOOOOOOOOO! thud!

 

Oh sorry, Amirite.

I'm thinking of changing my name to grumpyoldchick cuzuno, YOLO!!!