WRITAMINS™

These writing supplements from WORKTALK will boost your ability to write more quickly and concisely.

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Dear Mr. Smith, Dear Joseph or Hey Joe?

Believe it or not, many people in business do not want you to address them by their first name. When writing to individuals for the first time, always address them as Mr., Ms., Your Lordship, Your Majesty, or whatever other title is appropriate. If they use the formal title in responding to you, take the cue and continue addressing them formally. When they want you to call them by their first name, they will tell you so.

Another reason to avoid leaping into a first-name relationship with a stranger is this: You have no way to know whether the person himself actually uses that name. While researching an article for the Journal of Accountancy, I once called a major accounting firm and asked to speak to one of the partners. When I asked for William Jones, the receptionist didn’t know who I was talking about. I repeated the last name and mentioned the specific topic of my research. “Oh! You mean Butch! No one calls him William. One moment please,” said the receptionist. If I had written a letter addressing him as William, I would have marked myself as presumptuous fool. If I had written to him as Mr. Jones, at least I would have seemed polite.

Nicknames are another linguistic land-mine. Avoid them unless you have a well established face-to-face relationship with the person whose nickname you want to use. There are dozens of Daniels in the world who have never been called Dan, even by their best friends. There are Alans who cringe whenever someone calls them Al, and Elizabeths who never want to be called Betty. (I am one of them.) By using a nickname, you can offend and irritate your reader before he reads a single word of your message.

If you are afraid that using terms like Mister, Ms., or Doctor will make you seem stiff and uptight, do not worry. Being polite is always cool. Maintain a warm, straightforward, yet respectful tone in your writing; people will feel connected to you. Trample on their personal boundaries by jumping straight to a first-name basis and you may undermine your opportunity to do business or develop a better relationship. As George Washington said, "Be courteous to all, but intimate with few."

© 2008 Elizabeth Danziger All rights reserved.

Elizabeth Danziger offers customized writing training and consulting. She is known nationwide for her humor, clarity and focus. For more information about the Worktalk training, writing, and consulting services, contact lizd@worktalk.com.

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Need to catch up on your Writamins? Visit www.worktalk.com and catch up on some of the writing tips you’ve missed. These are just a few of the archived Writamins on our site:

Know Your Purpose Before You Start.
Use Punctuation to Pace Your Writing.
Secrets of the Semi-Colon.