Question About Snail Mail

[DrakaTaarn]

Hello!

 

In your opinion, is it okay to begin an informal letter with "Hello" or another greeting instead of "Dear"?

 

Forghisto.

[Pentode]

Sure. Why not?

 

"Informal" is informal, right?

[praxim]

Hello Forghisto.

 

Yes.

 

Evidently.

 

cheers

P

[linearM]

Certainly. I find quite a few letters coming to my mailbox. I'd say about 50% say Dear_______, the rest say Hi or Hello, hola, or ciao.

[DrakaTaarn]

Thank you all for the replies. My generation doesn't know much about snail mail, or even long-form correspondence through email, so it's a good thing to have a place to ask questions.

 

Often, in the Esperanto community, letters and emails are our only option for international communication. The rules for letter-writing, thankfully, aren't too different.

 

Forghisto.

[linearM]

Where is a good source of information on Esperanto? How large is the Esperanto community, haven't heard much about it in some time?

[DrakaTaarn]

Good question, Linear M!

 

In the Sacramento area, our club has about 20-30 members. Unfortunately there is no good estimate of Esperanto speakers. Estimates range from 12,000-2,000,000. The language is right now expanding more than ever, thanks to the internet.

 

The best source of information to start out is filling out this form: http://esperanto-usa.org/node/701/.

 

BTW, my user name, Forghisto, means "Blacksmith" in esperanto, and is a translation of my last name.

 

I actually wouldn't mind seeing the creation of an international Esperanto fountain pen community. Could very well be possible.

 

Forĝisto

[MHBru]

For my tastes, Dear is too formal and stiff. Almost all of the notes I write (several each day) begin with Hello. If it is someone I developed a closer relationship with I'll use Hi. While we're discussing salutations... how about closing? I've been using Kind Regards pretty much exclusively.

[MissChief]

For my tastes, Dear is too formal and stiff. Almost all of the notes I write (several each day) begin with Hello. If it is someone I developed a closer relationship with I'll use Hi. While we're discussing salutations... how about closing? I've been using Kind Regards pretty much exclusively.

To start a letter, I usually use Hi or Hello. Only occasionally will I use Dear. Closing a letter...This is one that always gets me. To me, Kind regards almost sound too business-like, almost stilted. I'll use Sincerely.. or, as I did tonight, Blessings on you and your family. When it's someone I've been corresponding with for a while, I've used Hugs. Being a knitter, I've ended some letters with In Stitches. I've received letters that end with Cheers... or Peace... among others.

[DrakaTaarn]

Closings are harder, yes.

 

The traditional way we write letters is hundreds of years old. Maybe it's time for a change. While tradition is good, the stiffness could be what keeps younger people away from what is actually a more intimate way to correspond.

 

Forghisto.

[MHBru]

I neglected to mention that all of my correspondence is business related and I understand your comment MissChief. Maybe I'll try sincerely once in awhile 😊

[Moonshae]

I don't see "Dear" as stiff or formal, just the standard way to begin a letter. Perhaps it only seems that way because so many people use "Hello" or "Hi" (or nothing at all). Email and texting both tend to be used more frequently, so that seems normal, making "Dear" seem formal, even though it isn't.

 

You can see this parallel in clothing; we had a "semi-formal" dress code for homecoming dances when I was in high school, but that meant jacket and tie (or a casual suit), which is technically casual. Semi-formal is black tie, and formal is white tie. Showing up for a party dressed in a jacket and tie when the invite says "casual attire" means you'll be surrounded by shorts, jeans, and t-shirts and you'll stick out like a sore thumb, even though you're correct. That doesn't mean we should redefine "casual attire" because then definitions will become confused...exactly what is happening when people say "smart casual." It's an attempt to reconcile definitions with common usage.

 

Ultimately, the word you use should be a reflection of your relationship; if you know someone very well, "Hello" or "Hi" would be perfectly fine, but you can't go wrong with "Dear" regardless of the audience.

[darazs]

Funily enough and writing my snail mail correspondence mostly in French, I very nearly always use the equivalent of Dear (Cher, Chère) which has a warmth and closeness which I am looking for in hand written correspondence.

 

All in all, I would fine Hello or Hi out of place on such a letter. The email etiquette at work is to start with the first name of the correspondant, which I took on as well for private emails (which is limited to be fair).

 

Does that help?

[Sasha Royale]

Greetings and Solutions !

 

Informally, I find Esperanto speakers to be wonderfully ophstropulous.

[asnailmailer]

• Greetings and salutations
• Hello
• Hi
• Dear

 

I also receive from one person who just uses my name,

 

• Best wishes (read that this was formal at one time, in Simon Garfield's book To the Letter).
• Kind regards
• Hugs
• Tschüß
• Love from