> Trying to decide what level of formality and/or honorifics is appropriate in a specific case seems insane. I once worked at an Australian bank that had a mas

> Trying to decide what level of formality and/or honorifics is appropriate in a specific case seems insane. I once worked at an Australian bank that had a massive SQL function, prob 500+ lines long, for getting the salutation right in mailshots. As well as the usual Mr/Mrs/Dr/etc options, it had decades worth of special cases, largely derived from complaints from VIPs. e.g. Retired navy officers, professors emeritus, former Members of Parliament, archbishops and rabbis, a rather pompous husband of a female Lord Mayor,...