Use of Courtesy Titles and Honorifics in Professional Writing

Use Of Courtesy Titles And Honorifics In Professional Writing

The use of honorifics (Mr, Mrs, Miss, Ms.) and styles (HRH, His Holiness, etc.) differs greatly among publications in both journalism and academia. The differences are based on tradition, practical concerns (such as space), and cultural norms. There is a continuum among publications between using no honorifics at all, using some honorifics but not styles, and using all honorifics, including styles. In certain cases honorifics and styles may be used according to some other pattern, or selectively only for certain persons. Note that this discussion deals only with the use in the English language; others, for example German, are very different.

Read more about Use Of Courtesy Titles And Honorifics In Professional Writing:  Titles, Honorifics, and Styles, Comparison of Publications, Styles Used Sometimes, Styles Not Used

Famous quotes containing the words courtesy, titles, professional and/or writing:

    Poe gives the sense for the first time in America, that literature is serious, not a matter of courtesy but of truth.
    William Carlos Williams (1883–1963)

    We have to be despised by somebody whom we regard as above us, or we are not happy; we have to have somebody to worship and envy, or we cannot be content. In America we manifest this in all the ancient and customary ways. In public we scoff at titles and hereditary privilege, but privately we hanker after them, and when we get a chance we buy them for cash and a daughter.
    Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835–1910)

    The relationship between mother and professional has not been a partnership in which both work together on behalf of the child, in which the expert helps the mother achieve her own goals for her child. Instead, professionals often behave as if they alone are advocates for the child; as if they are the guardians of the child’s needs; as if the mother left to her own devices will surely damage the child and only the professional can rescue him.
    Elaine Heffner (20th century)

    That of all the several ways of beginning a book which are now in practice throughout the known world, I am confident my own way of doing it is the best—I’m sure it is the most religious—for I begin with writing the first sentence—and trusting to Almighty God for the second.
    Laurence Sterne (1713–1768)