Good lord, here I was worrying about whether one day in
quarantine is long enough before taking the NYTIMES out of the kitchen cabinet
to read it, and a debate has broken out about what to call me! Well, I prefer to be addressed or referred to
as “Professor,” just as doctors prefer to be addressed as “Doctor,” lawyers prefer
to be addressed as “Counselor,” policemen and women prefer to be addressed as “Officer,”
and trolley car conductors prefer to be addressed as “Conductor.” But there is really more to it than that.
I am rather old-fashioned about terms of address, and I care
as much about how I address others as I do about how others address me. My primary care physician is Dr. Thomas
Keyserling. He is, I would guess, thirty
years younger than I am. But it would
never cross my mind to address him as “Tom.”
I dislike the practice so often adopted by nurses and physician’s assistants
of calling patients by their first names, regardless of their age. First of all, I think it is disrespectful for
a young person to address an old person he does not know by the first
name. I mean, the patient, if a women, is
probably a mother, a grandmother, maybe a great grandmother. What is more, she may be semi-naked, wearing
one of those wretched backwards gowns.
And on top of that, she is probably apprehensive about some health
problem, real or imagined. A little
respect wouldn’t hurt. Oh, I know it is
an American tradition, born of a rejection of European inherited titles and the
associated tugging of the forelock. But
still.
Too casual an attitude toward titles also derives one of opportunities
for deliberate acts of disrespect. My
favorite example comes from the spring of ’68 when a group of students occupied
Columbia University’s administration building, Low Library. Columbia’s president at the time was a
pompous ass named Grayson Kirk. The
leader of the students was Mark Rudd, a young man not too deeply versed in revolutionary
theory but pitch perfect when it came to generational conflict. One day, he distributed an Open Letter to
President Kirk. It began, “Dear Grayson.” The letter was reported to have driven Kirk
bonkers.
28 comments:
I am no longer young, being 46 now, but even in my youth I still found some value in honorifics. I tend to use them when I feel they are earned however. Unless I'm scared (pulled over by police, getting pulled into a meeting by a C-level type) I don't default to calling people in assumed positions of respect "Sir" or "Ma'am". Age to me is deserving of respect, unless said individual has demonstrated they do not warrant respect.
I also find it respectful to address someone by an honorific when they may not expect it. I saw a man with a sign asking for money yesterday. To get his attention, I called out "Sir".
'Professor' it shall remain. I was very comfortable with that. Thank you Professor for answering my question which I am very sorry to have asked :)
Some anarchist you are, Bob!
I agree completely.
I wonder whether you'll endorse this added reason: honorifics stress the formal equality among people in a role or office. The middle-aged white male professor can easily say to his students "I don't believe in titles, call me Jack," secure in the knowledge that he's still regarded as holding professorial status. Others can't, and know that they can't. So for him to indulge in the pretend-egalitarian affectation with his students aggravates, makes a show of, inequality with respect to his colleagues.
I think I can understand your answer. I'm only a Ph.D. and not a Professor,but I am annoyed when someone addresses me as "Mr."
However, how do you really know that all the other professions care about it as much as you do? You wrote: ".. just as doctors prefer to be addressed as “Doctor,” lawyers prefer to be addressed as “Counselor,” policemen and women prefer to be addressed as “Officer,” and trolley car conductors prefer to be addressed as “Conductor.”
I can, however, think of a good reason for the practice that is not merely a throwback.
Sometimes by addressing another person with their title, one is, in effect, respecting their right to a private life. One thereby recognizes that we have business to attend to, and we should not allow ourselves to be distracted from the matter at hand. It need not be a matter of obsequiousness or slavish respect for mere titles. It says we are doing some sort of business here --the sort of business the title fits--and we should not allow ourselves to be distracted from the matter at hand.
I do hear you about the matter of age differences. I find it very bothersome when my elderly mother is immediately addressed with her first name by someone who is a very slight acquaintance.
I do, however, differ from you in one way. If I am working with students regularly, I feel it is proper for them not to address me with my title, and it is in no way disrespectful. They show their respect for me when they listen to me, and (for example) try to address suggestions or criticisms in something they are writing.
In a large lecture hall I might feel differently.
By the way, you might think of the hasty use of proper names as in the same category as the "phony inclusive 'we'".
Well, I have a Ph.D. and was a professor (at nowhere grand). The only person who regularly greeted me as "professor" was the college president. I always figured it was because he couldn't be bothered to remember my name, though sometimes I suspected it was a sign of hostility.
This is a blog. You are not teaching a class, and no one here is your student.
umm, if you ever do have an informal picnic with your blog readers, be sure to accomodate the vegans. and no peanuts. keep the meat eaters away from the salad people, and check with everybody beforehand for preferences. They are a tough crowd.
As you wish, P'fessor.
Being a pianist who played professionally until about age 30, I was called 'doctor' long before earning the degree. Pianists were referred to as Doctor, or Professor, beginning somewhere during the last half 19th century. It seems to have come from the fact that many piano teachers back then were European immigrants who had music degrees from a university and called themselves Prof. or Doc.
Black kids took lessons from those folks and somehow the titles followed the players. I assume the title conferred a degree of cachet, as Professor Longhair is way cooler than Henry Roeland Byrd. I read somewhere that Jelly Roll Morton anglicized his Creole surname so that should he be arrested (he worked in a house of delight in New Orleans) his parents would be spared the embarrassment of their son being outed as a 'whorehouse professor.'
Evidence of the classical training of many ragtime pianists lies in the structure of songs like Maple Leaf Rag which have an A-B-A-C-D pattern similar to a Rondo. The A-B-C-D sections are in different keys, and those changes generally follow classical patterns. When Ragtime became popular, classical composers like Dvorak incorporated the syncopation into their compositions. The syncopation, of course, came from African rhythms.
My name really is Dean, but a lot of good it does me, even while I work in academia. For example, I don't get an assigned parking space. (This hardly matters, because I take public transportation to campus when I'm free to go there, but I'm bitter about the slight.) When I introduce myself to academic colleagues I clarify that Dean is not my title, but my given name. If I were a dean, I might perversely insist that others call me Dean Dean. But really, "Hey, you!" works fine, too.
OT: A friend brings this streaming opera resource to my attention: https://operavision.eu
I just watched -- well, played in the background and occasionally glanced at -- Handel's Xerxes. I really enjoyed the singing and the staging.
I'm glad that is cleared up. I would only that add that a factory worker would like to be called Mister.
I take issue with Anonymous no. 1; while a blog, the "platform," at least for me, is very much a class. And I am
happily a student. What a wonderful thing, especially for us septuagenarians.
I am going to risk saying a few things though. I call my primary care physician Tom- but then he is my younger brother. (But I call my other doctor Doc) I call my lawyer John, but same situation. If I am ever able to revive my weekly poker game, and if you showed up, you would have to settle for Robert or Bob or something similar. (You would always be welcome by the way) If I had to say 'Professor- it is your turn to bet' then there would be mass confusion given the number of professors that show up regularly. Well regularly in more regular times. Completely different circumstances than addressing you on your blog and I understand that.
People are comfortable with different things. As you probably noticed, I tend to write comments. Mostly on economics blogs and often disagreeing with the author. And almost always I have preferred to call them Professor or whatever title is most respectful. (It is mostly helpful to be polite when disagreeing if you don't want to get smacked down) Some have actually told me that they would rather I didn't or that it was not necessary and I happily call them what they prefer. That is really the reason I asked and I am very happy to call you Professor. And there is tremendous respect for you whenever I comment.
Dean, at UMass in the '70s there really was a wonderful Dean named Dean Alfange. Reminds me of Major Major Major in CATCH-22.
When I first started teaching high school, some students called me "Dog." I decided that handling it with a bit of humor was the best way to go. I said, "Don't call me 'Dog.' You can call me 'Cat,' but don't call me 'Dog.' I'm not a really a dog-person."
I agree with you concreting the importance that should be placed on how we address others but there are extremes.
As being part Japanese and knowing a culture where such issues are taken very seriously, I can say it has its positives and negatives. Referring to someone respective of their title is a no brainer, and would be very rude still to not to do so.
Although when this is taken nearly to an extreme, there is an apparent distance that is formed between the two parties. A gap which is hard to bridge and may take one party to even outwardly say, " it's ok, please just call me. . . ".
Showing respect via properly utilising the manner in which are to address the other is very important and makes things quite convenient for if you say, forget the vise- principal's name, it would never matter as you always refer to him/her via the title.
Although in forging friendships within the work place and so on, you got to leap that gap. A action many in Japan have problems with.
Have a great day professor.
Nat P.
@Christopher Mulvaney
Interesting comment re pianists. I don't think I knew about the prevalence of the Dr. title among them.
I'm not sure I agree completely w Prof. Levy's comment above. It's not really the white male prof's fault that people will see him as a professor regardless of title whereas they won't necessarily accord, for instance, his female colleague the same respect unless she uses the title. He shd still be free, it seems to me, to say "call me Jack" or "call me Mr. Smith" if he wants.
I spent a long time in school (college, law school, worked for a number of years, went back to grad school), and I can't really recall a professor saying "call me Jack" (or the equivalent). With a v. young instructor, it might be a different matter. I did call my PhD adviser by his first name, despite not really having as close a relationship w him as some people do w their advisers. But I was an older student at that point and he was only about five years older.
Levy is exactly correct. We desperately need to eliminate hierarchy wherever we can. I enjoy expressing respect to people (but not least in part for the reason Prof. (!) RPW describes, namely, the irony of addressing people higher on the ladder as "Hey, you, Tom.").
A recent fond recollection: somebody in a public forum referred to a very important dean as "boss," to which the dean replied, "I don't feel like a boss." I can't imagine a more healthy view of leadership. Nobody should ever feel like a boss.
This is why I despise all of the presidents of the United States. Moreover, I despise the fact that we have a president. Our beloved founders made a huge mistake with that one.
It is unlikely that high school students called you "Dog", David. The word is "dawg"... an informal, albeit not necessarily diminutive slang term along the lines of "bro" or "dude".
I think Professor Wolff is worthy of respect, especially among the educated- but wanting to be respected by title is to desire an external that is status. Brilliance should be its own reward. His brilliance is appreciated by all of us
As a widely under-recognized authority in linguistic usage (I have a Phd in Rhetoric), I must note that the term 'anonymous' in blog commenting is roughly synonymous with 'scanning the internet for something to disagree with and/or be offended by'. Other synonyms include 'cranky-pants' and 'self-celebrating horn-tooter'.
"widely under-recognized authority": That would be an example of meiosis.
Here's a thoughtful music teacher's musical response to the larger situation we now confront:
https://www.facebook.com/don.nathan/posts/10158456619723217
I begin with a quotation: "..he was like inches from my face, basically, yelling that I should call him sergeant, I should call him sir, and with no mask on. He had no gloves on. I could feel his saliva on my lips. It was just a crazy encounter."
Dear Professor Wolff, I won't say (with irony) that this example supports your claim that various professions prefer us to address them by their professional titles, but in this incident where a policeman unjustly attempted to arrest a doctor, one component of the policeman's aggressive behavior was the insistence that the man address him formally. Plainly the policeman was attempting to invoke the notion of authority that you have analyzed. He was not protecting his privacy, and preventing any appearance that friendship was influencing his professional objectivity. His insistence on the proper title was a sort of harrassment, an implied threat.
https://www.democracynow.org/2020/4/15/dr_armen_henderson_arrest_miami
Professor, I just read your post about free cell.
I used to play double solitaire with my sister. I realized she was trying to win, to play more of her cards on the aces than I could. I was trying to solve problems, to get us both to win. I'm not always cooperative, rather than competitive.
Post a Comment