Questions tagged [honorifics]
The honorifics tag has no usage guidance.
66
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Inclusive replacement for gentleman/lady
All,
I recently misgendered an individual by referring to them as a gentleman rather than a lady. Regardless of whether an individual is cisgender or transgender, it would be useful to have an ...
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Bachelor vs Engineer degree and thesis [closed]
So when it comes to my education I have earned an Engineer's degree at some European university, and my final thesis was some thing that I definitely would like to boast about before my future, ...
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1
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Honorific for the dead for use in articles published online [closed]
I'm writing an essay that I intend to publish online. The essay is about the Unix operating system, and I'm referencing an article published by a principal author - Dennis M. Ritchie who passed away ...
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What are the suitable honorifics that distinguish between a man and his father?
Suppose, for instance, that a man (John Smith) and his father are both present in a conversation and that the speaker would like to address each of them individually. Suppose also that the ...
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Capitalization rules for nicknames and name-replacing honorifics
My intuition is to capitalize any word that used in reference to a person in place of their name: Mother, Father, Grandma, Grandpa, Doctor, Captain, Professor, Sir, Ma’am, Boss, etc. But my research ...
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Not sure how to handle "doctor" - as an honorific or as a noun
I understand that "doctor" would typically only be capitalized when referring to a specific person with that title, and otherwise is a regular old noun without capitalization.
Would its use ...
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0
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The Miss(es) Joneses
Fowler reads
The Misses Jones is the old-fashioned plural, occasionally used when
formality is required, e.g. in printed lists of guests present, etc.;
otherwise the type the Miss Joneses is now ...
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What is the grammar on Your honor/My lord? [duplicate]
Your honor, My lord, Your highness, My lady all refer to another person. What are the rules behind that?
The striked-out questions are answered by Why is it "your Majesty", but "my Lord&...
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Is it offensive to call someone as "mister"? [closed]
I watched American TV shows all the time. Sometimes this kind of scene appeared.
A: Hi, can I meet Mr. Smith?
B: It's Judge Smith
or
A: Mr. Smith, do you believe........
B: It's Doctor Smith
It also ...
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0
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Honorifics: Is there a proper differentiation between salutation, address and title?
I'm currently working on technical system which needs to differentiate parts of an honorific. Reading articles and explanations on this subject is a little frustrating as title, address and salutation ...
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Formal title/honorific for a lawyer
Let's say there is a lawyer named Sue Smith.
She could be referred to as Ms. Smith, but is there a different formal prepended honorific specific to lawyers?
Particularly when addressing one directly.
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On the capitalization of familial honorifics
We all know that Mom and Dad are capitalized when used in dialogue as a substitute for a name.
But is it the same for big sister, big brother, big sis, and big bro?
One example of the sentence would ...
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Is there a gender neutral equivalent to mister/miss?
It's fairly common to abbreviate mister/misses/miss as Mr./Mrs./Ms. and I've seen a few people online using Mx. as a gender neutral alternative. Is there a full word that one could use in this case?
...
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What would be a gender neutral form of address as a highschool teacher? (British English)
In the UK, it's very common for secondary school teachers to be referred to as one of the following:
Sir/Miss
Miss/Mrs/Mr Surname
This would be both when the students are talking about the teacher, ...
user274438
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1
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When did English-speakers start and stop using foreign language honorifics? [closed]
Around the middle of the twentieth century, it was usual for English speakers to refer to people from certain non-English speaking countries with honorifics in their native language, rather than ...
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Is it okay to say “Excuse me, Ms.” to get attention from strangers who are women? [closed]
I was wondering that above sentence on title,
“Excuse me, Ms.” is rude or not. I’ve watched a video on youtube about English titles, but “Excuse me lady.” is very rude to get attention from women, ...
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Addressing boys and girls differently in (Victorian?) English schools
In Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë I read:
“Burns” (such it seems was her name: the girls here were all called
by their surnames, as boys are elsewhere)...
So my question is: were there (or ...
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How would one address a female priest in the Anglican Community?
How would one address a female priest in the Anglican Community?
What do you call a female priest in the Episcopal church?
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What do you call the process of formally addressing someone by using honorifics?
My native language is Macedonian, and in my language, we have a special term that describes the process of formally addressing someone. The idea is that you treat that person in plural instead of in ...
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Is "Reverend" a title, honorific, style or merely an adjective
Is it proper to introduce a clergyman as Reverend Johnson or is it more proper to refer to him as the Reverend Mr. Johnson ... or the Reverend Dr. Johnson, as the case may be? "This is Reverend John ...
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How would you write the name and aspiring title for someone in an enterprise environmemnt? [closed]
How would you write the following (name, aspiring title) pair in a company context:
John Smith, to be Specialist
"To be" here is meant in the sense of TBD (to be defined or to be done) or TBC (to be ...
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Can "Mrs" be used before the name of a spouse who keeps her maiden surname? [duplicate]
For example, Donald Trump's wife changed her name from Melania Knauss to Melania Trump when she was married, adopting her husband's surname. In this case, Melania can be referred to as "Mrs. Trump" ...
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Your parent's cousin is your first cousin once removed, but is it common to call them aunt/uncle instead?
My cousin's child would be my first cousin once removed, and I would be the same to them, but according to the same link:
The appropriate name for addressing your cousin’s child is niece or
...
user76879
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How should title and suffix appear when writing last name first?
It's common in business to list persons in order of last-name-first.
Instead of "John W. Van Dyk", write "Van Dyk, John W.".
But what should be the convention when the name has a title or suffix.
...
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"I visited Dan, the Doctor" or "I visited Dan, the doctor"?
My son brought home his 1st Grade homework... I seem to think the 1st sentence is correct....
Which sentence is written correctly?
I visited Dan, the Doctor.
I visited Dan, the doctor.
Any help ...
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Keeping Up with the Joneses, Vocative Edition
TLDR: This question is about vocatives. Is there a rule to explain
how to know whether you can drop a person’s name when addessing someone
just by their title alone, or whether that form is ...
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How does one address a former UK Prime Minister in a letter? [closed]
More specifically, does the title "The Right Honourable" apply to former PMs as well? Is "Your/Her/His Excellency" used at all?
I'm finding several references for how to address current PMs, but I'm ...
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Title vs honorific
The Wikipedia article on honorifics states that
Some honorifics act as complete replacements for a name, as "Sir" or "Ma'am", or "Your Honor"
I had initially thought that titles generally needed a ...
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"two President Roosevelts" or "two Presidents Roosevelt?" Pluralize the honorific or the name?
If you have two people with the same name, affixed with the same honorific, do you pluralize the honorific or the name? For example,
There were two President Roosevelts.
There were two ...
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Is a student studying towards <a degree> "a <a degree> student"?
For example, I assume a "M.Sc. student" would be a person who hasn't yet obtained a Masters degree?
I'm almost sure this is what it means, but not 100% sure, so I'd like to have it verified.
(I'm ...
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Adding Mr/Ms/Mrs to a signature [closed]
Suppose one has an unusual or foreign name, or a name which traditionally belongs to the other gender. Is it inappropriate to add one's title (i.e. Mr/Ms/Mrs) to the signature of a letter/email so as ...
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“Mx” the gender-neutral honorific
The gender-neutral honorific “Mx” has its own entry in the OED since August 2015, so no one can argue it doesn't exist. According to The Sunday Times, central and local governments have been quietly ...
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What is the correct possessive form of "Drs. Smith"?
I want to address two Doctor Smiths via the abbreviation "Drs. Smith"; what is the correct possessive form of that (plural) noun phrase? Is it "Drs. Smith's"?
An example sentence:
Drs. Smith's ...
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Why doesn't the English language have distinct words to use when talking to elders? [closed]
In many of the languages that I've studied there are separate distinctions in the words to use when talking to elders and when talking to someone of your age or younger.
For e.g. in Hindi, if I ...
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19th C forms of address
In the early 19th C. when the eldest daughter married, did the second oldest daughter become the "Miss Whatever," or did she continue to be identified as "Miss Whoever Whatever?'
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Why are doctors addressed as Mr. in the UK?
In the US most physicians, surgeons and dentists are addressed as "doctor". Very few other professionals receive the same title. In the UK, however, surgeons and dentists seem to prefer to ...
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What should we call our elder cousin's wife? [closed]
We don’t call our cousins cousin Somebody the way we do with uncles and aunts; we just refer to them by their given name directly.
But sometimes we cannot use their name to address them, such as if ...
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What is the best way of conveying respect to elders in English? [duplicate]
In Afrikaans, it is considered very disrespectful to use "you" ( "jy") when referring to someone who is above the level of a peer. Instead, it is expected that you use "u", which is a very respectful ...
user77261
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I want to refer to Bill Gates on his blog with respect in the comments section
One way to address Bill Gates with respect would be to simply write Sir, but I don't want other readers to get confused about who I'm referring to. How do I refer to him with respect without creating ...
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Is it ok to use Er. if a person is engineering degree holder [duplicate]
Its usual that we see doctors use Dr. Title, but I have also seen engineers use title - Er. Is this practise allowed, approved?
I have seen few name boards like that in India.
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Desk name plate for a PhD holder
I have read the full article in wikipedia and this question, but I am still unclear about this, as I am not a native speaker. A quick Google search did not help either. My brother recently received a ...
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Salutation for two doctors (not married)
Does use of the salutation
Dear Drs. Apple and Banana,
imply that Dr. Apple is married to Dr. Banana? That is, would it be better form to use:
Dear Dr. Apple and Dr. Banana,
when Dr. Apple ...
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"Ma'am" or "Miss" in American English? [closed]
Is it common to address a female sales clerk as Miss in the US?
What about ma'am?
If neither is proper, what would you suggest?
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Capitalization of honorifics such as "your excellency", "your majesty", "your holiness"
When addressing an ambassador, is it
I agree with your excellency.
or should your, excellency, or both be capitalized?
Likewise with "your majesty" and "your holiness".
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President of [Country][Name] vs President [Name] of [Country]
I came across the following sentence in The Guardian (emphasis mine):
President Vladimir Putin of Russia said the EU was putting pressure on Kiev and organising mass protests against President ...
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"The title of Bachelor of Engineering" vs "the title Bachelor of Engineering"
... obtained the diploma and the title of Bachelor of Engineering (B.Eng.).
... obtained the diploma and the title Bachelor of Engineering (B.Eng).
Which sentence is correct? Which is better?
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First name or last name with "Sir"
If my teacher's first name is Robert and his last name is Dowry, and I have to send him an email, then which of the following will be correct?
Dear Sir Dowry,
Dear Sir Robert,
Dear Sir ...
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Usage of "ladies and gentlemen" to address two people of different sex
It seems to be not quite logical to use the traditional address "ladies and gentlemen" when there are only a single lady and a single gentleman in the room, not counting for the person who is speaking....
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Use of word late
If Mr. Peter Smith has died,
is it ok to use "Mrs. Peter Smith (late)" for his wife?
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"Mom and Dad" vs "Dad and Mom" [duplicate]
I'm curious if the order implies anything here. I'm pretty sure "Mom and Dad" is standard in English. The issue was hard for me to google, so I'm asking it here:
Is using "Dad" before "Mom" incorrect,...
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