Doing without titles: who likes the idea?

Sister still identifies your gender though.

Do a PhD OP, then you get to be Dr!

I thought Rt Hon was only members of parliament who are also members of the Privy Council/Cabinet? And yer bog standard MP is The Hon Member for.......

I actually did belong to a group that quite a few people used comrade, with a straight face. It could catch on?

So, sister then...?

Nah, let's go with comrade. It's got a subversive ring to it.

You don't want to be Hon either, as a woman. Rt Hon is if you're an MP so you won the title in your one right. You're only an Hon if your father or husband has a peerage, though.

Oh yes I could go with Comrade

The problem with getting rid of titles is that at the same time you are also getting rid of formality, which a lot of people will not like at all.

I like "Comrade".

I could live with "HOnourable"

I quite fancy being "Honourable" though it does conjur up images of people bowing as they say it.

Ms is the obvious answer where titles are necessary.

Can't quite believe it still hasn't become utterly standard.

i've used ms for 20 yrs (god that's a long time) during that time I've gone from single to married.
I'm fine to be known as female, other than that it's my business

It's an interesting proposition. Like Trills, I am also a Dr (but much much older than Trills). I have found it difficult, when I'm dealing with someone whose gender is unknown to me, as I feel it's rude to get it wrong (have done so with a woman called Kevin with whom I only corresponded by email ).

So, I guess what I'm saying is that, while I agree that gender is not relevant in most situations, how do we get round not being rude to someone? Or should we up our game and get rid of gender-specific pronouns also, to avoid feeling like we're being rude?

I agree, titles of any sort are rarely necessary. I like the Quaker approach to this.

I work in academia where most people have lots of spare titles, but first names are the usual mode of address.

I'm jealous of Trills. I want to be Dr Hahaha.

what about formal situations?
I'm "san" in Japan- Sakura-San. DH is "san" as well.
Shall we all just go with Ms

oooh, yes after reading the other thread, I thought it wouldn be good if we all just rejected titles.
I'm in

As I live in Greece and use Greek all the time, the issue of titles doesn't come up, because in any case, even if I do not give a title, gender is immediately obvious. Every adjective, every article, every pronoun, every participle, all grammatical references used in relation to me will reflect my gender. When I can't even say "I'm tired" without it being gendered, then titles are somehow insignificant!

However, when I'm over in the UK, I prefer Ms, but I'm interested in the idea of having no title at all. A more formal approach could be to use the surname, less formal the first name. When neither is known, I like SGB's Per for person. The only other option I can come up with is Cit for Citizen, but it makes me think of either the French Revolution or Communism!

Alternatively, we could all just shout "You!" and point at the relevant person!

I use my first name generally, if I like you then you may abbreviate it down. My mother uses 2 of her first names, one for family and close friends the other for everyone else, but I suppose that could be a bit odd when you make the transition ('I know you've been calling me Mary, but from now on you can use Jane'). But perhaps not if everyone did it?

I quite like the formality of being Ms.Risotto when at the doctors or on the phone to companies. They like to call me my first name though and I don't like that.

I never use my title at work, just firstname lastname as do all my colleages, except (of course) for the doctors for whom the title is very important. Generally I just use my first name because it is very distinctive and so the surname part is not required. I tend only to use the title/surname combo when I can't be bothered to spell my first name out really. I'm not really bothered about forms, it just seems somewhat irrelevant really.

I quite like the US? Christian? tradition of calling someone Brother or Sister then their name.

But tbh I don't think titles are generally needed, unless for professional purposes e.g. you know who is a professor because that's in their name.

I would far far far rather just be called by my full name, titles are a relic AFAIC.

FlamingoBingo was correct--Quakers often prefer not to use titles, because they feel as if it puts people into groups where some are superior to others. There was a woman from a Quaker background who joined the staff at the university I went to, and she sent around a message asking people who didn't know her well to call her "Firstname Lastname" and after people got to know her, to drop the last name. It seemed a bit strange, but I can see how it makes sense.

I am Dr. Hahaha. No-one knows my marital status, it's none of their business.

I have a unisex first name too so no-one knows my gender if they only know me from a piece of paper.

i am omar whenever i can get away with it, which is most of the time, and failing that Ms (but i hate the lesbian assumptions).

i like it when cold callers phone for my partner. when i say he is out, they ask "is that Mrs Omar'spartnersname?". i say: what, his MUM? no, she doesn't live here. they get terribly confused.