Dear Sirs

[Suzanne12]

Is this an acceptable way to start an email that will be received by either a man or a woman? Would you say something if a colleague used this term to send an email to a generic inbox?

Yabu - it's fine
Yanbu - it's not acceptable anymore

I've been doing admin work for 30 years and have never used anything other than Dear Sir / Madam if I don't know the intended recipient's name.

1. Why not Dear Madams?

Dear Sirs just sounds nicer, in my opinion.

1. What is 'any gender'? Don't you mean 'either sex'?

I didn't wish to offend anyone that does not correspond to established ideas of male and female.

Dear Sir sounds 'nicer' than Dear Madam? Why?

More importantly, Mr, Mrs, Ms, Miss should all become obsolete. This is far more sexist in my opinion. Why should women be addressed according to their marital status?

Most of the magazines and newspapers I write for just use a surname when referring to someone after they have first been introduced with their full name "Mary Bloggs, head of purchasing at Shop, said....Bloggs continued...". One magazine uses Ms and Mr as default, unless person has a title like Professor: "Mary Bloggs said...Ms Bloggs continued...". I get people who have been quoted moaning at me about both, but there are more moans about being called Ms than just having their surname used. (The vast majority don't moan of course!)

Well I have heard it all now! Dear Sirs sounds nicer...absolutely gobsmacked by this nonsense!

And what are 'established ideas of male and female' FGS?

Common use in writing to HMRC too in my experience. Though that's formal, written letter form.

I work in the legal industry and I never, ever write 'Dear Sirs'. I have on occasion received correspondence to 'Dear Sirs', but usually from older, male legal professionals in smaller firms.

I think it does matter, and that it is sexist. Women are not properly identified as 'Sir'. It is a male identifier. It is reinforcing that men are the default sex. How hard is it to use correct language? I consider it actively impolite for someone to use 'Dear Sirs'.

Okay, we’ve established that some legal firms use “Sirs” as a default. You’ve all made your point. This does not make it “acceptable” for modern times and it should be called out every single time until it is no longer used as the default.

Blimey. Is this being challenged within the legal profession, or just accepted as standard?

Eugh, I'd hate to work in that field.

Dear Sirs should become the generic greeting to include humans of any gender

Why? What do you mean by 'any gender?' Why would you erase half the population by refusing to use the term 'madam?'

I am a director and someone sent an email last year which was chasing our custom. They began with Dear Sirs. It completely put me off using them. It makes any business look dreadful from my point of view.

I’d be spitting. I’m still cross about my boss emailing me and two male colleagues starting the email with ‘gents’.

HopelessLayout
More importantly, Mr, Mrs, Ms, Miss should all become obsolete. This is far more sexist in my opinion. Why should women be addressed according to their marital status?

Because they choose to be addressed that way?

Still standard use for my industry for formal responses in certain situations. Can't get wound up about it, everyone knows what it means.

I always use Dear Madam, since I'm a woman and lots of people i know in my industry (which is overwhelmingly male, still) and if anyone mentions it i tell them that just about everything i receive says "Dear Sir".

And to the inevitable reply that everyone knows that means women as well, i say "well so does that" and i leave it.

It’s professional to use this term.

Not ideal, but what is the rest like? Best I've had so far was "Dear Esteemed Madam"

Hard to know whether it is kinder to point out that it isn't really the optimum opening to a business email in the UK or just to ignore and hope they will notice that others don't use this greeting

It makes any business look dreadful from my point of view

Agree and it would actively put me off using a company that did this. Hopefully it will die out but the evidence on this thread suggests not any time soon...

No it’s not.

It’s professional to use this term

Rubbish. I find it actively UNprofessional.

Not “professional” I mean.

If I got that email I’d assume the sender was educated in a country where male/female equality was not the norm yet.
Yeah. Like UK...

Dear Sir sounds 'nicer' than Dear Madam? Why?

Something "sounding nicer" than something else is a subjective opinion, as I said…

However, if a technical explanation is required, perhaps it's because it has fewer syllables and the second word is a voiceless alveolar sibilant rather than a bilabial nasal sound.
Again, that's just my opinion though.

I have always been told that it does not relate to a man of course it relates to a man. Sir is male. You would not say 'female' doesn't refer too a woman so why is it different in a letter? 4

@StVincent

It’s amazing how many people use male as default eg you see a fox “ah look he’s running under the fence”

Ah yes, I would use he when referencing foxes, mainly because the ones who invade my garden make a mess, keep me awake with their noise and are grubby disease ridden bastards

I had to sign off an annual legal letter which came in pre-written form and the firm always put "Dear Sirs" even though their senior team (to whom it was addressed as a group) was mixed men and women. I always altered it to "Dear Sirs/Mesdames" before I sent it back - it was never commented on but I don't believe it affected the legality in any way so I am sure other firms could use similar as standard.