FYI - if the racehorses on Keen Eddie were supposed to be thoroughbreds than they were wrong, wrong, wrong: the General Studbook (like the US Jockey Club) doesn't allow ai.

Quite possibly: god knows it wouldn't be the first time a tv show got facts wrong in the service of a good joke.

My project is falling apart. Right now I'm waiting desperately for some biologists to tell me there aren't any birds nesting yet on an Oregon island, so I can send people out there in a helicopter.

Note to self: never hire a contractor to go out to an island without having a plan for how to get them there, since you can't rely on them to figure it out. ARGH.

Am I writing a cover letter more for the benefit of HR or for my future manager? How technical should I be?

I would describe the culture I grew up in as American. The national background of the people in my area was German/English/Scots, but no one ever referred to that. We were a bunch of people who ate casseroles, watched Walter Cronkite on the news, had cookouts and went to fish frys. As pretty Mid-Century American as you can get.

I would describe the culture I grew up in as American.

So, does "ethnicity" = "culture" in your example? (I'm terribly confused by all of this; hence, all the questions.)

Am I writing a cover letter more for the benefit of HR or for my future manager? How technical should I be?

In my org, at least, HR weeds out a bunch and sends what they consider the best possibilities to the appropriate managers for consideration. So ideally the cover letter would appeal to both, but (again, in my org--others may vary) it definitely has to make it past HR first.

Well, first you have to get past HR, so I'd be concise, informative and follow the guidelines you got above. I know I am impressed when the letter shows that the applicant understands not just the job but our company. If the job description lists a specific skill which you excel at, you might want a sentence about that "I have 10 years experience with chick sexing and built the Scola Chick Sexomatic, which cut sexing time in half."

I'm going to have "Bust a Move" in my head for the rest of the day, I know it.

And not all people who live in the US have a shared cultural and ancestral heritage of Kraft dinner.

I am one who does not have a shared cultural and ancestral heritage of Kraft dinner.

This goes back to my grits question. Grits are entirely American, made from a Western Hemisphere plant, and based on American Indian cooking. Most Americans, however, do not have a cultural history of grits for breakfast.

Am I writing a cover letter more for the benefit of HR or for my future manager?

I think the cover letter is more of an introduction, briefly saying that you have the skills they're looking for and why you want to work for them. You might include a few big picture things like "I coordinated the planning and implementation of a big cool computer thing." The more technical stuff goes in the resume.

Concur that cover letter is first line of defense for HR. They send the resume to the Dept. Head.

I don't know if the French in France think of themselves as ethnic, but as the default.

The French think of themselves as The Right And Proper Standard By Which Others Are Found Lacking.

Seriously. They do it right. And everybody else is doing it wrong.

"I have 10 years experience with chick sexing and built the Scola Chick Sexomatic, which cut sexing time in half."

Depending on the organization, this could be a plus or a minus.