Mr. President

[Ohdanigirl]

I am sure this has been discussed, but it just drives me up a wall. Aren't we supposed to say President Obama, President Bush, President whomever comes next? I notice that many news anchors used to say Mr. Bush, and now it's Mr. Obama on many channels. What is this about? Maybe I just didn't pay attention before, but I seem to recall it was always President Clinton.

 

Am I just really OCD this morning?

 

Danielle

[Perry]

I am sure this has been discussed, but it just drives me up a wall. Aren't we supposed to say President Obama, President Bush, President whomever comes next? I notice that many news anchors used to say Mr. Bush, and now it's Mr. Obama on many channels. What is this about? Maybe I just didn't pay attention before, but I seem to recall it was always President Clinton.

 

Am I just really OCD this morning?

 

Danielle

I asked this question awhile back-- here's the thread. To summarize,

from Lisasaysto

 

If the article is from the New York Times or a paper that uses the New York Times stylebook, you will see titles for everyone mentioned by name, not just the president. On second reference, everyone is Mrs. or Mr. or Dr., etc.

 

If the article is from a publication that uses the Associated Press stylebook (which is more common), you will not see any titles used at all.

 

The paper I work for uses AP style.

 

HTH,

from NPR :

 

"NPR has used Mister as the alternative term of respect on second (and subsequent) reference to the President of the United States for decades. I personally have been Washington editor for three presidents and we have done it consistently through this time. Just as consistent have been the letters, phone calls and emails from people who do not believe what I just said. They insist we always called the previous president 'President So and So' on every reference and that our alleged failure to do so with the current president indicates disrespect. It is difficult to convince people their memories are faulty, and even transcripts sometimes do not convince them. One nice thing about the digital age is that people can actually go on line, call up actual audio from earlier this month, or last month, and hear us saying Mr. Bush, which we did every day."

[Ohdanigirl]

Thanks. Like I said, my memory might bot be that great.:tongue_smilie:

 

Danielle

[Laura Corin]

The opposite worries British people. Americans tend to refer to British Prime Ministers as 'Prime Minister Cameron', which sounds very strange to our ears. In Britain, it's either 'the Prime Minister' or 'Mr Cameron'.

 

Laura