Re: All-important phrases

On 31 Jul 02, at 14:54, Christian Thalmann wrote:

> The German word "Hallo" exists and is applicable over a wide range of
> social strata, therefore making a good choice when you don't quite
> know whether to address someone with as "Sie" or "du".
It also seems to be popular in more-or-less informal emails, which (in
my experience) often start with "Hallo <name>". <name> can be either
Firstname or something along the lines of "Herr/Frau Lastname", for
when you know someone fairly well but are not on a first-name basis
yet. (If you don't know them at all, then IME people tend to stick with
the paper-letter-writing phrase "Sehr geehrter Herr X" = "Much honoured
Mr X".)

Cheers,
Philip

"Hallo Herr Kaiser -- gut, dass ich Sie treffe!"
(Catchphrase from a TV commercial for an insurance company)
--
Philip Newton <Philip.Newton@...>