Need help, but it's no biggie. How should one address a former Office holder?

[LaydeeBug]

Should Sarah Palin be addressed as "Governor"? Should Howard Dean? I know Howard Dean likes to still use the title, but my cousin posted this to me, and it made me think: if this is true, we shouldn't be calling former President "President because there is only one at a time.



http://www.formsofaddress.info/Governor_US_Former.html

[Warpy]

1. No, I think she forfeited that one when she bowed out after half a term

because the grifter couldn't pass up cash on the tour bus circuit.

I think the only form of address that is appropriate is "HEY TWIT!"

[dionysus]

4. how about "Disgraced Resigned Governor Palin"?

[LaydeeBug]

5. Oh, *I*'d call her much worse than that, I just wanted to know whether she can be called that

Sub Howard Dean or any other Dem governor who didn't quit.

This was the link: http://www.formsofaddress.info/Governor_US_Former.html

[NV Whino]

2. Half governor, or half assed governor.

Are the preferred terms.

[rurallib]

3. Probably, but I think "Grifter" better captures the real Palin

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

6. I believe "Princess Dumbass Of The North Woods" is still the preferred title. nt

[Enrique]

7. Her Maverickesty

[1000words]

14. Nice

[pinboy3niner]

19. Good one, Enrique! Which inspires another: Her Rogueness. nt

[Cleita]

8. Maybe she doesn't want the title.

She was close to being investigated for some corruption before she resigned so maybe she doesn't want people to be reminded about it.

[LaydeeBug]

9. I should really change my OP. This is getting cray. nt

[nyquil_man]

10. Call her Vice President Palin.

That should piss her off.

[Staph]

11. If I were ever so fortunate to meet her (/sarcasm),

I would call her Governor Palin in that way that we with a southern accent can pronounce a word, that makes that word the deadliest of insults. Just as "bless your heart" is one of the rudest things a southerner can say, and most folks outside the region have no idea they've been slammed.

[MADem]

13. "Why, how nice to meet-chew, Fox News Analyst Palin!!!"

Brutal....!!!!

[MADem]

12. The protocol I was taught was "highest rank held."

That went for military or civilian folks. Of course, the context of this usage was "official-social," for events, like dinners, ceremonies, things like that.

General Schwartzkopf, Governor Dean, Secretary Clinton, Senator Feingold, etc.

And "Once a President, always a President." President Carter, President Clinton, Pretzeldunce Bush, etc....

This guidance is a major departure from the standards to which I have been accustomed.

Standards and mores change, but this is news to me. I think there will be a lot of push-back in the willingness of people to suddenly start calling former Presidents "Mister." To me, even "former President" grates on my ear. I mean, after all, I'm not stupid and neither are most people paying attention to any person who used to serve as our nation's Commander in Chief--we know who the current boss is, and using the title for an ex-Prez is an honorific. I think they've earned it.

That said, if this is the "new guidance," well, I guess we'll all have to adjust. I'll be an old curmudgeon, though, and say "Well, I don't like this kettle of fish one bit!!"

[Gormy Cuss]

15. The protocol is that if the position has one holder at a time (president, governor) only the current

holder is entitled to the honorific. Former holders may be referenced as such but should be introduced as the Honorable or Mr/Ms.

If the position has multiple holders (e.g. senator or general) it's acceptable to refer to former holders by that honorific.

This isn't new. I learned the rules of protocol decades ago.

[MADem]

16. I'm not arguing with the guidance in the book, but I can tell you that

close to many thrones, it is not implemented in social circumstances, and hasn't been for many decades, either.

This isn't new as well--I've seen it with my own two eyes.

Here--you can, too.

A few media examples:

http://www.wired.com/business/2013/11/bill-gates-and-president-bill-clinton-on-american-exceptionalism/

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article/mlb/national-college-baseball-hall-of-fame-to-honor-president-george-hw-bush?ymd=20131114&content_id=63927500&vkey=news_mlb

http://www.usatoday.com/story/theoval/2013/11/12/obama-bush-carter-clinton-ken-burns-gettysburg-address-film/3504735/

So, you see, one can talk 'protocol,' and one can see that common usage trumps it as often as not.

[Gormy Cuss]

17. There's protocol, and there's the laziness of our media.

The latter being responsible for an erosion in knowledge of the former.

eta: I remember when our national print and TV media used to get it right, at least most of the time.

[MADem]

21. And there's "social protocol," and I've seen examples of this usage back in the 1960s.

If you go into the newspaper archives (Google has some that are robust if cumbersome) you can see examples of "President Truman" and "President Eisenhower" into the sixties. There are some papers that are careful to do the "former" or "ex" and say "Mister" or "General" but there are others that didn't bother--even way back when.

People are unwilling to let go of a leader that they happened to like, and adherence to that writing style might very well depend upon the editorial lean of the paper as much as anything else.

And here's a little CBS thing about former President Johnson's library, filmed a year before he died, and in it a bunch of folks, including then-President Nixon, call LBJ "President Johnson."

Social usage--it's probably always going to butt up against official protocol. I don't think it'll ever change.

[Contrary1]

20. GW needs to get some concealer to dab on that everlasting red nose of his. n/t

[MADem]

22. For starters! Maybe ten layers of pan-stick to cover up those gin blossoms, too. nt

[Sgent]

18. Emily Post agrees

http://www.emilypost.com/forms-of-address/titles/777-official-forms-of-address