Dear Both....... - WordReference Forums

I often start my formal emails to a number of people with Dear All. ... I have used 'Dear Both' but not frequently and only very informally. Forums Dictionarysearch:  English-Spanish English-French English-Italian English-German English-Dutch English-Russian English-Portuguese English-Polish English-Romanian English-Swedish English-Czech English-Greek English-Turkish English-Chinese English-Japanese English-Korean English-Arabic Spanish-English French-English Italian-English German-English Dutch-English Russian-English Portuguese-English Polish-English Romanian-English Swedish-English Czech-English Greek-English Turkish-English Chinese-English Japanese-English Korean-English Arabic-English Spanish-French Spanish-Portuguese Spanish-Catalan French-Spanish Portuguese-Spanish Englishdefinition Englishsynonyms Englishcollocations Englishusage Italiandefinition Spanishdefinition Spanishsynonyms Catalandefinition Spanish French Italian Login Register What'snew Search Rules/Help/FAQ Members InterfaceLanguage Menu Login Register Installtheapp Install EnglishOnly EnglishOnly Youareusinganoutofdatebrowser.Itmaynotdisplaythisorotherwebsitescorrectly.Youshouldupgradeoruseanalternativebrowser. DearBoth....... Threadstarter smorodina Startdate May19,2011 smorodina SeniorMember UK Russian Morning IoftenstartmyformalemailstoanumberofpeoplewithDearAll. IthinkI'vereceivedacoupleofemailsinthepastaddressedtomyselfandoneotherperson,thatstartedwithDearBoth... IamwonderingwhetherBEspeakersuseitfrequently.. Haveyou?When? Thankyou   Bevj AllegraModerata(Sp/Eng,Cat) Girona,Spain English(U.K.) Ihaveused'DearBoth'butnotfrequentlyandonlyveryinformally.   T Tunalagatta SeniorMember English-England smorodinasaid: Morning IoftenstartmyformalemailstoanumberofpeoplewithDearAll. IthinkI'vereceivedacoupleofemailsinthepastaddressedtomyselfandoneotherperson,thatstartedwithDearBoth... IamwonderingwhetherBEspeakersuseitfrequently.. Haveyou?When? Thankyou Clicktoexpand... Hello I'vepersonallyonlycomeacrossorusedthisformofaddressinpersonalemails.Ifyoucommunicateregularly,andthetwopeoplereferredtointhe'both'arefamiliartoeachother,Ithinkitwouldbequiteacceptable,asitassumesacertainfamiliarity,butisstillsuitablyformal(andgrammaticallycorrect!),butnotoverlyso.Itisn'tatermI'duseifIweresendinganemailtotwopeopleIdidn'tknow,andwhodidn'tknoweachother.   M Merrit SeniorMember English Ibelieve'DearAll'and'DearBoth'usedtobequitecommoninthepre-emailera,whenpeopleusedtoactuallyhand-writeletterstoothermembersoftheirfamily. I'mprettysureifIhadtowriteDearGrandmother,UncleTheophilusandAuntHermione,IwouldhaveoptedforDearAll. Jokesaside,tomeit'sthesortoffriendlyfamiliarlevelthatwouldbefineforfamily/friends,butmaybeatouchtooinformalforbusinessuse. But,ofcourseitdependsonhowformal/informalyourcompanyenvironmentis. m   sandpiperlily SeniorMember SouthernUS(raisedinMidwest) English--USA Iknowit'snotwhatyouasked,butIwouldaddthatIdon'tthinkI'veeverseen"dearboth"intheUS.Iwouldconsideritveryodd.IfIwerewritinganemailtotwopeople,Iwouldsay"DearJohnandJane"or"Dearfriends,"etc.   GreenWhiteBlue Banned TheCityofNewYork USA-English Iconcurwithsandpiperlily.Iwouldfind"DearBoth"tobeveryoddindeed.Ifsomeoneiswritingtoonlytwopeople,surelyitisnottoomuchtroubletowritethetwonames.Iwouldthusexpect"DearMomandDad",or"DearGeorgeandMartha",or"DearMr.andMrs.Cambridge".   T Tunalagatta SeniorMember English-England Iagreethatitisquiteunusual.Icouldimagineitinthistypeofcontext:A,BandCarecolleagues,orhavesomekindofworkingrelationship,andareallonfriendlyterms.AregularlycommunicatesshortemailmessagestoBandC(perhapsitworksallthreeways,too).Forbrevity'ssake,AaddressesBandC"DearBoth",tosavewriting"DearJeanandMike"overandover.Itmightbeusedinafollow-upmessage,ratherthanintheinitialmessage,whichreallydidbegin,"DearJeanandMike".   smorodina SeniorMember UK Russian Thankyouverymuchforyouranswers,deareveryone   natkretep Moderatoconanima(EnglishOnly) Singapore English(Singapore/UK),basicChinese Iuseitoccasionallyininformalcontexts,andsoitdoesn'tsoundstrangetome.Fromtheresponsesreceivedsofar,itlooksasifitisn'tusedbyAEspeakers.   R RDJEBENIANI SeniorMember Honiara,SolomonIslandsandTunis ARABICTUNISIA Ineverreceivedthiskindofemailandonepersonthisyearstartedusingthis.Ifinditverydistant.Idonotlikeit.Reallynot.   E Egmont SeniorMember Massachusetts,U.S. English-U.S. AddmetothelistofAEspeakerswhofinditquitestrange.Thankstothisthread,though,InowknowthatIshouldnotbesurprisedtoreceivesuchane-mailfromacrossanocean.   Youmustloginorregistertoreplyhere. Share: Facebook Twitter Reddit WhatsApp Email Share Link EnglishOnly EnglishOnly Top