A bonus I just thought of: it would eliminate the use of sir/ma’am as a noun.
We shouldn’t be doing that anyway. Unless they’re a Knight/Dame?
Out of curiosity, was this triggered by an email that began “Sir’s, Ma’ams, Ladies & Gentlemen”?
Or is it just (unfortunate?) coincidence?
Why would we pick the male version? Why not call everyone Ma’am?
my Wg Cdr has specifically requested that all emails are addressed
Sirs, Ma’ams, all
(or similar), to include all T and non-binary recipients
Exactly.
Good point so if it was really going to be an issue (which it shouldn’t) then just go by rank, end of.
In statute law it all refers to he/him so there is precedent for it.
That stopped 14 years ago: https://civilservice.blog.gov.uk/2020/01/10/breaking-down-gender-stereotypes-in-legal-writing/
The practice for legislation changed in 2007. Since then, it has been government policy to write legislation in gender-neutral language.
I had not noticed that (probably because most legislation I use is much older).
Yes, but that didn’t revoke the Interpretation Act, which just specifies that references to he/him includes the female.
Whereas the policy going forwards is to use they, their etc.
Why not just ‘All’?
Just plain old ‘All’ for when someone is grumpy, or slip an adjective in front when they are trying to be polite?
I can’t express in words just how much I hate emails which just start
All,
Why? This is how I start almost all my group emails
Is “A Tout le Monde” any better for you?
A member of my staff uses Kiora. It takes superhuman inner reserve to supress the urge to not sing “It’s too orangey for crows…”
Email back saying
“I’ll be your friend”
Without wanting to offend you ( ) - I’ve just always felt, with something so short, it’s part laziness, and part rudeness. But it might stem from knowing that most of the people I’ve known who use it only do so because they know can’t get away with starting emails with
Oi, plebs:
Nah, I start all my emails with
Friends, Romans, countrymen
edit: to expand on why I think “All” is rude, I try and go by the mantra of I like to be spoken to online as I would in real life. I think most people would be a little put out if their boss walked into a room and just shouted ALL to get attention. Even in the military, the only normal time we address a group with a single collective term is to announce a drill order
Counter: “Good Evening All”.
Yes, in an email, I have no issue with “Hi all”, or “Morning all”, just with “All” on its own
It is a bit unnecessarily curt.