'Private and Confidential' Envelopes

[ll_billym]

Why the 'Confidential' when printed on an envelope?

If nobody opens it, because it is private, then how can they keep the information confidential as they don't know it?

If the instruction is for the addressee then surely the information inside should have 'Confidential' on it if this is the case, not the envelope.

It is the sender that puts this on envelopes but the information is confidential to the addressee and it is of no concern to the sender who the addressee tells about it.

[grasscarp]

It is so that when it is sent to an office where staff open all the post, it means that only the person named should open and see the contents as it a private matter and not for other eyes.

[horseshoes]

Que?

[craft1948]

We had to double-envelope things marked "In Strictest Confidence"

[ll_billym]

So what does the addition of 'Confidential' bring to the party that 'Private' doesn't already do?

[jno]

the letter is private, the contents are confidential.

[Buenchico]

As I see it, 'private' means that only the addressee should open it.
(i.e. it's not to be read by anyone else who shares an office, or in-tray, with the addressee).

But that, on it's own, doesn't mean that the addressee can't then divulge the contents to certain other people. So a letter marked 'Private', sent to 'The Head of Personnel' should only be opened by him/her. However adding 'confidential' means that he/she should not then discuss the contents of the letter with (say) the head of another department within the company.

However, in reality. the words 'private' and 'confidential' just get thrown together out of habit, without the person writing them really thinking about what they actually mean.

There's an analogy with 'terms and conditions'. I'd be prepared to bet that most people who provide a list of "terms and conditions" wouldn't know which of their numbered items is a 'term' and which is a 'condition' ;-)

Chris

[ll_billym]

So if the letter (sealed envelope) is private then nobody should open it apart from the addressee, making the nature of the contents irrelevant.

[ll_billym]

Posted before your response Chris, force of habit makes sense! Cheers.

[ABerrant]

'Private and Confidential' was one of a number of classifications for British diplomatic correspondence dating back centuries.

Official despatches were 'public' because Parliament had the right to debate and publish the content in the diplomatic Blue Books.

'Confidential' or 'Secret' despatches would be recorded in the Foreign Office Archives but not published in the Blue Books.

'Private and Confidential' correspondence remained the personal property of the recipient and would usually be marked as such on both the envelope and the contents.