Right now, it seems that the only way to degender your name is to gain a doctorate.
As is true in many, many things, genderfail is the most visible and most damaging 'fail' on offer from this kind of thoughtlessness; but there are many lesser failures worth pointing out, because a couple of them do matter, even to the kind of idiot who thinks that salutations are sufficiently important to be made compulsory.
To start with, a number of freemen, yeomen, landed gentry and knights' equerries are slighted by the Royal Mail's insistence on a mere mister, instead of a respectfully-appended 'Esquire'.
Oh, how my heart bleeds for their massive egos and their miniscule importance... Except that they are people and if we insist that they should be addressed by name and title, they can reasonably expect that we respect their titles just as much as we respect (correctly) naming them.
They are, quite literally, entitled to that.
Oh how my wallet would bleed if, in any formal communication, I neglected the proper address of a titled noble or a senior judge. Mostly, they don't stand on ceremony and titles; but if they feel slighted they can and will make you regret it. Those titles are there for a reason, and it's better to remember that, rather than to be reminded.
Best, I think, to keep in practice by addressing all with all the courtesy that they are due, Mr, Ms, Miss, Mrs and Majesty, and all salutations in between.
...Or none. It's also worth pointing out that 'Mr', 'Mrs' and 'Miss' are titles of respect that we use, out of courtesy, to all citizens in good standing: this was not always so and 'the lower orders' were referred to or addressed by surname only, well into the nineteen-fifties. Often, in a very pointed way - and this is very much the case, even today, in schools where pupils must address the staff as 'sir' or 'miss'.
I mention this because it is still incorrect to extend such courtesies to a prisoner, or to certain classes of criminals (murderers, perjurers and those convicted of treason) after their release; it's a breach of good manners that you would debase the terms and titles of respect we use for our fellow-citizens by making identical but empty gestures of respect to those we know to be despicable.
Does that sound pompous?
A bit?
...Or a lot?
Then we should consider that all people are equal, or none, and withhold titles from all...
...As Quakers traditionally did, and some still do; as levellers and anarchists prefer to do; as caste rejectionists in several alternatives to mainstream Hindu observances do, and have died for doing, violently, within living memory. And as those from different societies prefer to do, when they are offered a limited list of parochial titles that are incorrect, or inappropriate, or nonsensical for them to use.
I haven't even started on serving members of the armed forces.
So there's an off-the cuff listing of the failures in this simple 'fail': and I am certain that a bit more thought would make a rather longer list.
Also, I was under the impression that addresses and address was someting that the *Post Office* might be good at.
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regna
On the embarrassment of bein a man in address
Date: 2013-05-17 10:47 pm (UTC)As is true in many, many things, genderfail is the most visible and most damaging 'fail' on offer from this kind of thoughtlessness; but there are many lesser failures worth pointing out, because a couple of them do matter, even to the kind of idiot who thinks that salutations are sufficiently important to be made compulsory.
To start with, a number of freemen, yeomen, landed gentry and knights' equerries are slighted by the Royal Mail's insistence on a mere mister, instead of a respectfully-appended 'Esquire'.
Oh, how my heart bleeds for their massive egos and their miniscule importance... Except that they are people and if we insist that they should be addressed by name and title, they can reasonably expect that we respect their titles just as much as we respect (correctly) naming them.
They are, quite literally, entitled to that.
Oh how my wallet would bleed if, in any formal communication, I neglected the proper address of a titled noble or a senior judge. Mostly, they don't stand on ceremony and titles; but if they feel slighted they can and will make you regret it. Those titles are there for a reason, and it's better to remember that, rather than to be reminded.
Best, I think, to keep in practice by addressing all with all the courtesy that they are due, Mr, Ms, Miss, Mrs and Majesty, and all salutations in between.
...Or none. It's also worth pointing out that 'Mr', 'Mrs' and 'Miss' are titles of respect that we use, out of courtesy, to all citizens in good standing: this was not always so and 'the lower orders' were referred to or addressed by surname only, well into the nineteen-fifties. Often, in a very pointed way - and this is very much the case, even today, in schools where pupils must address the staff as 'sir' or 'miss'.
I mention this because it is still incorrect to extend such courtesies to a prisoner, or to certain classes of criminals (murderers, perjurers and those convicted of treason) after their release; it's a breach of good manners that you would debase the terms and titles of respect we use for our fellow-citizens by making identical but empty gestures of respect to those we know to be despicable.
Does that sound pompous?
A bit?
...Or a lot?
Then we should consider that all people are equal, or none, and withhold titles from all...
...As Quakers traditionally did, and some still do; as levellers and anarchists prefer to do; as caste rejectionists in several alternatives to mainstream Hindu observances do, and have died for doing, violently, within living memory. And as those from different societies prefer to do, when they are offered a limited list of parochial titles that are incorrect, or inappropriate, or nonsensical for them to use.
I haven't even started on serving members of the armed forces.
So there's an off-the cuff listing of the failures in this simple 'fail': and I am certain that a bit more thought would make a rather longer list.
Also, I was under the impression that addresses and address was someting that the *Post Office* might be good at.