Timeline for Is it considered offensive to address one's seniors by name in the US?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
21 events
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| Dec 2, 2020 at 23:54 | comment | added | fectin | Great answer. It also often depends on forum, which may be worth mentioning. | |
| Dec 2, 2020 at 22:52 | comment | added | Hot Licks | I'll note that I feel a tad offended when someone calls me "sir", and it's not in a standard "courteous" exchange with a salesperson or what-have-you. It feels like a subtle put-down. | |
| Dec 2, 2020 at 15:24 | history | edited | Azor Ahai -him- | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| Dec 1, 2020 at 21:15 | comment | added | Bob Brown | @Stef I have such an automated signature. Just above the block with the institution's logo, my title, name, rank, and serial number, it says, "Best regards, Bob" | |
| Dec 1, 2020 at 17:33 | history | edited | Azor Ahai -him- | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| Dec 1, 2020 at 16:07 | history | edited | Azor Ahai -him- | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| Dec 1, 2020 at 16:07 | comment | added | Azor Ahai -him- | @Stef The "email signature convention" is widely discussed on this site. What culture are you coming from? | |
| Dec 1, 2020 at 14:49 | comment | added | JS Lavertu | @Stef Agreed. I worked on a project for the head of the department surgery at a major hospital and he signed his emails with "Gerry". I never tried, but I don't think it would've gone very well if I called him that. | |
| Dec 1, 2020 at 13:35 | comment | added | Stef | I agree with mostly everything in this answer, except "The convention is people sign their emails how they want you to address them.". In my experience, people use automated signatures in their emails, which include their full name, their diploma, their field of research, as well as their professional contact information. The automated signature remains always the same, regardless of the emails' recipients, be it colleagues, students, friends, family, or bureaucracy. These automated signatures absolutely do not reflect the way the person wants to be addressed. | |
| Dec 1, 2020 at 5:38 | comment | added | Yasha | In general, I think @AzorAhai-him- is correct. My experience has generally been that faculty members refer to one another by first name here in the US. I refer to members of my department by first name and prefer my graduate students to refer to me by first name. Of course, there's no hard-and-fast rule. Some people are sticklers for formality, but in the US it's certainly not considered an insult to refer to a fellow member of the department by first name. | |
| Dec 1, 2020 at 2:41 | history | edited | Azor Ahai -him- | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| Dec 1, 2020 at 2:28 | history | edited | Azor Ahai -him- | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| Dec 1, 2020 at 0:43 | history | edited | Azor Ahai -him- | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| Dec 1, 2020 at 0:43 | comment | added | Azor Ahai -him- | @paul Interesting! Never heard someone do that. I'll edit to say "address" | |
| Dec 1, 2020 at 0:38 | comment | added | Bryan Krause♦ | Might also be some exceptions in medicine, where MDs often refer to each other as Dr Lastname. | |
| Dec 1, 2020 at 0:23 | comment | added | paul garrett | E.g., quite often senior faculty, when talking to grad students, refer to other senior faculty as "Prof X", rather than "Alice/Bob". I do so myself, in my own mind conveying respect, though that probably doesn't mean much, given the cultural drift. Decades ago, referring to people by surname only was nearly standard, in some circles. As it was in my middle school, among boys, who were trying to be tough. :) Ah, society, ... | |
| Dec 1, 2020 at 0:20 | comment | added | Azor Ahai -him- | @paulgarrett What exceptions have you observed? | |
| Dec 1, 2020 at 0:19 | comment | added | paul garrett | Not only for myself, but in observation of others, I don't think it's genuinely "universal". Maybe 70% or some other substantial fraction, but by far not universal... | |
| Nov 30, 2020 at 14:52 | history | edited | Azor Ahai -him- | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| Nov 30, 2020 at 12:27 | comment | added | Hobbamok | Yeah, for professors you usally use last name unless invited to, which however they usually do in the first lecture. There are the few Profs insisting on their title/lastname and to them it would indeed be an offence. Those are becoming more and more rare tho | |
| Nov 30, 2020 at 3:26 | history | answered | Azor Ahai -him- | CC BY-SA 4.0 |