Am I being a crabby old bat, or is this rude?
Of late I have had a number of emails addressed to me in my professional capacity beginning Dear [firstname] (one of them even managed to misspell this in an unusual, rather than the unfortunately predictable, way) instead of[Appropriate honorific] [surname]. Am I showing my age and being an unnecessary stickler ('Disgusted of North London') by thinking that this is not the way to approach someone your tutor has mentioned as a contact for assistance with your dissertation research? One of them, even though I carefully modelled what I thought was appropriate style back to her by addressing her as Miss [surname], still chattily (even though we have still not met) addresses me as [firstname]. Or have changes in epistolary style in the era of the email passed me by? Is this a generational thing? Or, have people - these are students, I may add - simply no idea how to write relatively formal communications?