"Leader DeLay"??? What's up with that?

[Beverly Flanigan]

At 07:03 PM 5/15/2005, you wrote:
>"Dennis R. Preston" _preston at MSU.EDU_ (mailto:preston at MSU.EDU)  writes:
>
> >An old  study (source forgotten) relates "Dr." and "Professor" titles
> >to prestige  of institution. More prestige, less doctoring and
> >professoring.
>
>Beverly Flanigan _flanigan at OHIOU.EDU_ (mailto:flanigan at OHIOU.EDU)  writes:
>
> >In my  experience, Colleges of Education are the fussiest about being
> >"properly"  addressed.  I once called our own C of E and asked to
> speak  with
> >"Bill Smith," and the receptionist haughtily said "Do you mean Dr.  Smith?"
>
>
>
>Can this be because Colleges of Education have lower prestige than other
>colleges?

No, I think it's because they _think_ they do, and therefore they
overcompensate.  (Some do indeed have lower prestige in the eyes of other
colleges; ours does, and deservedly so.)


>In the high schoolf rom which my daughter graduated last year, there was  one
>teacher (well-liked by my daughter and her friends) who had a PhD in
>history.  He was always "Dr. Elmore", never "Mr. Elmore".  I don't  know
>if this had
>anything to do with the principal of the high school being "Dr.  Blake"
>(again, never Mr. Blake).  I noticed that among my daughter and
>her  friends (who
>didn't care for the principal), "the Doc" invariably meant Dr.  Elmore,
>not Dr.
>Blake.
>
>A common situation in college is that students will try to address  "adjunct"
>faculty (who generally have the rank of "Lecturer") as  "Professor".  Some
>adjuncts are careful to correct the students; others  delight in the informal
>promotion.

Our adjuncts and even TAs are often called "Dr."  One adjunct, and M.A.,
delights in it.  The TAs correct the students but often accept "Professor"
with delight.


>Now for a new question:  recently I have observed several on-line  forms in
>which you are asked for your "Title" as well as your  name.  Click on the
>drop-down list arrow and you get the following  drop-down list:
>        Mr.
>        Mrs.
>        Ms.
>
>A generation and a half into the age of Women's Lib, has the title "Miss"
>dropped out of use even though the (allegedly sexist) title "Mrs."  remains?

I hear "Miss" generally only in restaurants, stores, etc., when one wants
to get the attention of the so-addressed person.  No one would be caught
dead saying "Ma'am" anymore, right?

>One possiblity is that, since drop-down lists are always in alphabetical
>order, the authors of on-line forms do not, for various reasons, like a
>drop-down list that read
>        Miss
>        Mr.
>        Mrs.
>        Ms.
>
>                    - James A. Landau (who is Mr., not Dr.)