Comment by ohlookabird

Off topic, but maybe someone has an explanation to one thing that I wondered quite a few times on mailing lists and that I got reminded of by the E-mail Tatu Ylonen sent to Joyce K. Reynolds: Why is it that some people start their E-mail with "Dear Sir"? From where comes the (to me unreasonable) expectation that there is a single male person on the other end (instead of a mixed group)? Are there stereo-types at play or is this a language/translation thing?