It Concerns Me, That's Whom

"To Whom it May Concern" has always been a pet peeve of mine. Not that there's anything wrong with it, per se, but I've never liked it. In my managerial days, a cover letter starting TWIMC always set me off on the wrong foot about the applicant. Not that I ever passed up a qualified candidate because of it--it just grates on me.

I realize that it's convention, like putting the www at the beginning of a URL. I also realize that my frustration is probably just a symptom of a broader neurosis, but follow me on this. People use it because "Dear Sir" is gender-biased and they haven't quite grased "Dear Sir or Madam" yet. But generally, if a cover-letter is well-written, the applicant has taken the initiative to find out exactly "whom it may concern" and addressed it to them personally. In my experience, 90% of the people who start a letter TWIMC would never use "Whom" under any other circumstances.

The problem, you see, is not that that TWIMC is bad writing. It's actually pretty decent writing, but it's tired, it's overused, it's cliche, and therefore it generally kicks off a letter that will embark upon a journey through many, many layers of awful prose before arriving at the inevitable KTHX BYE conclusion.

"To Whom It May Concern" is a harbinger of disappointment. It's that shiny new car that breaks down every 1000 miles. It's the promising athlete who breaks his ankle two games into the season. It's the Oscar-winner who goes on to make B-movies.

It's Cuba Gooding, Jr., really.