After Washington was sworn in as President there was some talk about what title should be attached to the office. Vice President John Adams was in favor of a high sounding title. Washington made it plain that he wanted no title and that Mr. President was fine with him. For his pains Adams was tagged with an informal title: His Rotundity.
Yep
- Donald R. McClarey
Donald R. McClarey
Cradle Catholic. Active in the pro-life movement since 1973. Father of three, one in Heaven, and happily married for 43 years. Small town lawyer and amateur historian. Former president of the board of directors of the local crisis pregnancy center for a decade.
I’m reminded (hopefully the details are correct, as well as the anecdote!) of an anecdote where a bishop was addressing a communication to Gregory the great and the former listed a litany of impressive sounding titles that was fairly extensive. Gregory responded simply with Servant of the Servants of God. That is the proper attitude for anyone in authority. St Paul admits it is a foolish exercise when he recounts his CV in 2 Corinthians. And of course our Lord emptied himself taking the form of a servant.
In representative systems honorifics are even sillier, and since the accumulation of them is the result of seeking them, the deference showed to the person holding them should be in direct inverse proportion to the number attained, since presumably their public service is to redound to the honor and benefit of their constituents instead of themselves (I pat myself on my head for my adorable naivete).
Although since we can’t have nice things I’m content with ironic or snarky titles as well.