The twitter tiff between HRD Minister Smriti Irani and Bihar Education and IT Minister Ashok Choudhary over the use of the word ‘dear’ which Dr Choudhary used to address Ms Irani (Will she sue me for using the title ‘Ms’ instead of ‘Mrs’?) was the hot news on Wednesday (15/06). As an active social media person, I followed the tweets related to #DearSmritiIrani with interest. Here are the English versions of the original tweets that were in Hindi:
• Ashok Choudhary: Dear @smiritiirani ji.. when you find time from politics and speeches do look at the education policy too
• Smriti Irani: When did you start addressing women as ‘dear’?
• Ashok Choudhary: “Not to disrespect but educate…Professional emails start with “dear”
The twitter war between the two politicians made me send these tweets to @smritiirani:
• #DearSmritiIrani Your tweets to Bihar Edu Minister have endeared you to so many Indians @smritiirani BTW what does ‘dear’ mean to you?
• #DearSmritiIrani thy name is controversy. Anyhow, it is entertainment for the Twitterati. Can we expect more? @smritiirani @AshokChoudhaary
There were many interesting tweets that provided the Twitterati with laughter and food for thought:
• MsSantoesha Respected @smritiirani ji, a few days ago I sent an email 2 ur ministry which starts with “dear”. Ghussa mat karna I will correct it & resend it
• @YadavTejaswi Just asking out of curiosity is “Dear” an offensive word or it becomes wen a minister frm dalit community calls so?
Even Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a tweet to actor Deepika Padukone addressed her as ‘dear’: Dear @deepikapadukone lets encourage voter registration among 18-24 yr olds. Large number of them unregistered. EC drive presently underway. Had Mr Modi addressed Ms Irani as ‘dear’, would she have engaged in a tiff with him?
Is it proper for a man to address a woman with “dear”? Is it too ‘intimate’ a word to be used in official emails to greet a stranger? Is it a ‘sexist’ term? The answer to all these questions is ‘No’.
‘Dear’ is a gender-neutral word. It can be used to address both men and women in communication. In formal communication “Dear Sir” or “Dear Madam” is used even if there is no personal rapport between the sender and the receiver. In this context, the term ‘dear’ is not synonymous with ‘darling’. Even if we do not like the person to whom we write a letter or an email, we can use the term as the convention allows the use of the term.
The word ‘dear’ has different meanings. It is a friendly form of address. It is not used between men in these contexts:
• Shall we order a pizza, dear?
• Nice to see you, dear.
Twitter is a social medium and tweets are informal messages. I think, it is perfectly fine to use the greeting word ‘dear’ in tweets.
Dear Minister, many thanks for giving us an opportunity to think about ‘dear’.
