Episode 49 How To Correctly Address People In English

This episode will be particularly useful for people who are serving customers or clients and wish to address them directly. These two situations are different because usually, with a client, you will know their name. There are some appropriate ways to refer to people, however they do vary depending on whether you are addressing an American or a British person. We previously covered when it was appropriate to address someone by their first name back in episode 18.  Tomorrow we'll be talking about the sticky subject of apostrophe's' 😬 see you there! Although we usually address a letter: Dear Sir/Madam We don't use 'dear' generally to address people because it is considered very familiar. It is most likely heard in conversations between different generations within a family, for example when a Grandmother is talking to her Granddaughter: ✔️'Did you have a nice time dear?' We wouldn't use it in a meeting: ❌ 'I hope this has been a useful meeting Dear.' If you are working in a shop or restaurant, somewhere with customers, you might wish to address them but not have their name. In America there are two clear terms you can use: USA Sir Ma'am UK Sir Madam ✔️'Madam is there anything I can do to help you?' ❌ Ma'am is for the queen! You can find out more ways to address the queen by checking out the royal website! As I mentioned in the episode in the UK we have some rather unexpected terms to refer to people. These include: ducky, petal, chick and chuck. You can find out more in this short article. General For clients where you have their name try to use it. Men are pretty simple: ✔️Mr Smith ✔️Yes, Mr Smith, that is correct. ✔️Do you have any other questions Mr Smith? You should check whether to call a woman 'Mrs' or 'Miss' before you meet them (especially if they are an important client or person). Usually somewhere they will be referred to as Mrs Smith, you can check their email signature, LinkedIn and the website for the company. If you have no luck see if it's written on your first piece of correspondence. Alternatively call and check with their Secretary or Personal Assistant at the company. If you really can't find it anywhere and you haven't been told to call them by their first name yet, then you can use 'Ms' instead. We talked about when it is appropriate to start using someone's first name in Episode 18. If you're not sure, or if the person is non-binary or trans then you can ask them, 'how would you like me to refer to you?' They will usually appreciate you taking the time to clarify before using the wrong pronoun or type of address so don't be scared to do this whenever you're not sure. Remember there are lots of other alternative titles people might prefer that aren't gendered, such as Doctor and Professor. If you're working in a shop or restaurant and someone has given you their card to pay or in a business they've given you their business card, use the name that's on the card. Additional Vocabulary Maiden Name - a woman's family name before she gets married (usually her Father's name, but it depends on the family.) Avoid something like the plague - idiom - means you should do everything you can to avoid doing that thing or going to that place If push comes to shove - idiom - means if you have no choice or no alternative At a stretch - idiom - means in an emergency or if you can't think of a better solution Just gloss over something - idiom - gloss paint is the thick, often shiny, paint that is often used for the final coat, we often think of it as hiding flaws. If we 'just gloss over something' then it means we don't focus on it or don't highlight it or avoid it, in such a way that nobody notices. It's a minefield - idiom - we use this to mean a dangerous place or scenario. In this case, when it would be too easy to make a mistake and look silly or create an awkward situation.