President Honorifics

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hi, my name is Philip. I’m from Fort Worth area.

Hi, Philip. Welcome to the show.

Thank you.

What’s on your mind?

I have a strong feeling about what I’m perceiving as a them and us attitude that’s becoming more prevalent in society.

Frequently I hear in my daily routine that what I feel are derogatory comments from the news media.

For an example, this morning at 7:30 I heard Ms. Carol Van Dam of Public Radio presenting something about the President of the United States say, Mr. Obama.

And it’s not the first time.

It bothers me because when I was a child and I attended public schools, I distinctly remember that my teachers insisted that, when appropriate, that we utilize titles when referring to anybody.

I think that a formal title generally denotes a scope of authority.

It provides a way to professionally identify activity or academic accomplishments, so that specifically designation becomes as much of an integral part of an individual’s identity as the proper name themselves.

So when we address the president, we’re not only talking about the president, President Obama, but we’re also respecting the title, the office of the presidency.

So I believe that the media could provide a directional moral compass and set an achievable standard by modifying or going back to our basic roots of utilizing proper titles.

Well, Philip, you’re talking about the media and you’re talking about what we called, when I worked in newspapers, the second reference. Is that right? Like you talk about President Obama and then later down in the story you talk about Mr. Obama?

Well, I hear the use of Mr. Obama or Mr. Kennedy as opposed to President Obama.

I believe that any time we are referring to an individual refers to the president or the presidency, it should be a title bestowed upon that person, and that is based on a lifetime achievement.

There’s an article from 1891 that appeared in a newspaper that’s no longer published called The Washington Star.

And in this, they’re addressing advice to the public on what to call the president.

And people were calling him Dear General.

They were calling him Excellency.

They were calling him Your Honor.

People did not know how to address the president.

So they were calling him all sorts of things.

Dear General.

Dear General.

But it’s really interesting.

There’s also, this might interest you.

There was an article by Judith Martin in the Washington Post in January of this year, right at the time of the inauguration.

And Judith Martin, as you may know, goes under the name of Miss Manners.

And she had questions from readers saying, look, what is the deal with this?

Why don’t people always call him President Obama or always call him Mr. President?

Why do they sometimes call him Mr. Obama?

Or for that matter, with his predecessor, why did they call him Mr. Bush?

And she has some really interesting things to say.

And one of them is this story.

It’s a bit of an old story.

But when George Washington was first elected president, as our first president, he wanted to be called his high and mightiness.

Oh, my goodness.

But the people around him said, look, you know, we got rid of, we threw one yoke off.

We threw off the monarchy.

And we don’t want another person who thinks that they’re all that, to use modern speak.

So let’s just call you the president as if you were the president of a large corporation.

And I’ve always had a, this is a personal opinion of mine, and I can’t back it up except with emotion and feeling.

I’ve always had the impression that the office of the presidency was no better than the man or no worse than the man holding it.

Does that make sense?

And it’s not the offices that do the respect.

It’s the individual.

And that individual must earn that respect.

It’s clear that you put a lot of thought into these questions, and I think this is more than I can answer.

I’m certain our other listeners have questions about this.

And we’d love to take your comments about this on our discussion forum at waywordradio.org.

I’m not sure that we’ve caught up with you yet, though, because it sounds like something you’ve been mulling over for quite a while.

I’m very passionate about respect, especially for our government and our leaders.

Well, thank you so much for calling.

We’re really glad to have you broach this subject.

I don’t think we’ve ever talked about this before.

No, I don’t think so, no.

And I appreciate you taking the time out of your day to explain exactly what’s in your heart.

Thank you very much. I appreciate your time and another opinion.

Thank you, Philip. Bye-bye.

We welcome your thoughts on this subject.

We’ll open up a discussion on the forums at waywordradio.org.

And, of course, you can always call us at 1-877-929-9673 or email us at words@waywordradio.org.