>>>>>>>>Hi everybody,
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>I'm writing a letter to Lauren and need to know how to proper address this person. I started Dear Sir, but then had second thought.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>What do you think?
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>May not apply in your case, but if you *heard* the name "Lauren" rather than saw it spelled out somewhere, it might actually be "Lorne" - which would almost certainly be male.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>No, I saw it written. I'm almost positive that we're speaking about female, but in any case, I forgot where exactly I saw that position. I need to search for it again. I guess if I find it I would write Dear Ms. ... with 2% probability of a mistake.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>Look. Write to Ms XXX. Serves him right if you're wrong, for not making it clear he's a Mr. If I were a Hillary, Evelyn, etc, one of those ambiguous names normally attributed to a female then I'd make it clear that I was a man.
>>>>
>>>>This makes me remember a sketch on Saturday Night Live. I think the name of the character was Pat. Really funny. You saw that? Nobody knew if the character was a man or a woman. People asked questions so they would know but Pat's answers were never clear enough.
>>>
>>>We don't get that show here.
>>
>>No SNL? so you missed the Tina Fey skit on Sara palin?
>
>Man, you guys are obsessed with this whole thing. I know it's all to do with who governs the country for the next 4 years but here in the UK we take a minor interest for a few weeks leading up to an election and that's it. Yours has gone on now for over a year, we get all the info over here (our media seem more interested in it than our own) and I'm up to here with it. I remember being flabbergasted some years ago in MS, during the gubernatorial campaigns, seeing people standing on highway bridges, draping flags and those droopy rosette curtainy swags you use and campaigning to the motorists.
>
>As for Sara Palin, I just can't stand those apple cheeks of hers. :-)

Not the election, we are obsessed with the jokes and satire...