More adventures in titles

[kaberett]

Yes! I found more!

This time I was attempting to book timed entry to the Dinosaurs exhibit at the Natural History Museum, where I am going tomorrow with the Amiable Bowfin. In order to do this, I had to sign up an account with the online museum shop. In order to do that... they have a compulsory title field. The list is:

• -
  
• Mr
  
• Mrs
  
• Ms
  
• Miss
  
• Master
  
• Dr
  
• Professor
  
• Sir
  
• Lord
  
• Reverend
  
• Baroness
  
• Brother
  
• Canon
  
• Captain
  
• Commander
  
• Councillor
  
• Colonel
  
• Eur Ing
  
• Father
  
• Lieutenant
  
• Flight Lieutenant
  
• Lieutenant Colonel
  
• Lieutenant Cdr
  
• Lieutenant Cmdr
  
• Major
  
• Mlle
  
• Madame
  
• Princess
  
• Prof
  
• Group Captain
  
• Lady
  
• Corporal
  
• Lance Corporal
  
• Herr
  
• Honourable Alderman
  
• Reverend Canon
  
• Right Honourable
  
• Right Reverend
  
• Senator
  
• Squadron Leader
  
• Wing Commander

YOU'RE WELCOME.

(Yes, I have e-mailed them about this. Only about "Mx" and "Msc" and the way that when I left the drop-down on the default field - "-" - it had a strop, failing silently and dropping not only my sign-up but my basket on the floor. But, you know, they're easy to contact. Go for it.)

Comments

Here via friends

[legionseagle]

You mean that Grace Hopper might return from the dead and they wouldn't have a space for Vice-Admiral Hopper?

And what about people with several? For example, a Doctor of law who is also a Graf or Grafin?

[ghoti]

What is a Eur Ing?

[kaberett]

European Engineer, apparently...

[steorra]

I wondered too, and Google sent me to Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Engineer

[nanila]

good heavens. Oh, to be allowed multiple selections. Because who wouldn't want to be a Right Honourable Professor Captain? Why is Sir an option but not Dame? Likewise, Princess but not Prince? (I realise these are not the primary problematic things about this list but it just looks so random.)

[catyak]

When you get a PhD it'll all go away because you'll be able to pick "Dr" as a nice gender neutral title, even if you then subsequently email them about the lack of others.

D

[kaberett]

That doesn't fix it for everyone else, and doesn't entirely fix it for me (widespread usage of Msc/Mx as titles is one step towards enough public recognition to get legal recognition -- it's a really good way to expose a lot of people to the concept that gender isn't binary).

Plus, you know, the lack of gender-neutral options is... really not the only thing bafflingly wrong with this list ;)

[kaberett]

Honestly I bothered posting this list mostly because it is so bafflingly inconsistent, not because I am especially surprised at the lack of gender-neutral titles - I don't typically bother with posting ones that aren't otherwise Worryingly Wrong!

Re: Here via friends

[kaberett]

I don't even knooooooooooooooooow

[rjw76]

My best guess is that this list has been scraped from some database of actual people's preferred titles, which would explain the inconsistencies.

[kaberett]

But they've been ordered somehow, and it's clearly not just "alphabetical" and I'd be astonished it if was in strict order of popularity, so I am assuming some human somewhere has interacted with the list and... just not cared that "Professor" also appears as "Prof"???

[worlds_of_smoke]

Can you lj-cut this, please? /o\

[kaberett]

Done! So sorry. If you'd like the first image cut too, please let me know if you're able to (I've left first image uncut for the time being because I remember that length is the issue; if I am wrong about that then would like to know etc etc <3). Thank you for asking.

[syntaxofthings]

Squadron Leader. That's me right there.

[worlds_of_smoke]

That's perfect. <3 Thank you so much.

[kaberett]

Sorry for forgetting. ♥ Hopefully this will get the mental flag set a bit harder!

[kaberett]

Beautiful, isn't it.

[worlds_of_smoke]

No worries. It happens. ♥

Also, I'm totally going o.O at this list. wtf? -laughs-

[pipisafoat]

Dibs on "Right Honorable Captain Canon" as a new nickname! Actually that makes me sound like a very irritating person who runs around fandom screaming about fic being OOC. But yes, there are SO MANY POSSIBILITIES with multiple selections. Yes please.

My actual preference is for full-in-your-own titles. Mostly because I never feel obligated about them. Or I can do a space & nothing real.

[kaberett]

Yes I agree about that preference and should have asked for it really? But "please add these titles" and "please make it non-obligatory" are technically easier and I was just. Tired.

(also HI I LIKE YOU I am sort of missing you sorry if that is weird?)

[alexbayleaf]

Awwww, the ridiculous form of this kind that someone last pointed me to had "Midshipman" as an option. I was tempted to sign up for whatever-it-was just so I could get mail with that on the envelope.

[alexbayleaf]

I suspect that it's based on who's been active on their board or in their charitable fundraising. "Oh, we want Princess such-and-such to attend our fundraiser. Better make sure her title's on the dropdown."

[pipisafoat]

It's not weird. I miss my internees too. Vacation has been super busy (actually I am home but the rushed ness continues). And also right now there are scary halfway-triggering-me things happening to a friend and it makes me afraid to get on dw and read some days. (Plus seriously it's hard to do on my phone and I haven't been in one place long enough to actually use my computer.)

Also that I read an article in a relatively local paper while borrowing a library's air conditioning today and it was about a person named Alex and I was like WHET DO YOU MEAN IT'S NOT MY ALEX apparently my sense of "local" is skewed.

(Tiny screen makes everything look like a big block of text too so idek if I am going on a lot because it aaaaaleays looks like it even when not.)

[azurelunatic]

Aaaaagh.

[naath]

IIRC the BA list has an impressive collection of royal and military titles.

I just booked a hotel - their list had "Sir" but not "Captain". Also, weirdly, "Mr and Mrs" but NO other combination of titles.

Of course *no* drop down list of titles can ever hope to be complete (remembering that some people stack titles); surely it would be *a lot easier* to have a text field for title?

[jamfish]

BRILLIANT

[fyreharper]

'Baroness but not Baron' is the one that caught me, but yes - did they just start throwing things in to be silly?

(...because that seems to have been the result, whether intended or otherwise...)

[rmc28]

Or, drop-down of the half-dozen-most-used with a separate text field available.

[kaberett]

Or free-entry box that suggests the most common (forms of) titles containing the string you've entered so far...