Have you ever seen so many people with initials after their names? You have PHD, ED.D., CPRP, etc., For crying out loud are people that egocentric about their names, that they must list every title they have gotten after their proper name. I don’t deny the hard work and education that gave them their titles but, holy cow, I don’t even know half the intitials that I have seen when recieving mail or looking up phone numbers, etc…
Work and education deserve to be recognized but, give it up, having the alphabet after your name is not impressive, it really sends the message that you may just be pompous. I was raised that bragging is poor taste. This seems like bragging.
So, Why do people insist on listing all their titles and degrees? Is it a trend? Is it a law? Is it ethical? Is it polite? I have noticed it more and more over the past decade then previous years. Whats the deal?
the letters after the name are earned and some take pride in that earning…
may be pompous? if you go to a lawyer or doctor who doesn’t have letters after their name, well you get what you pay for…
-Imp
I do not deny their pride as I said I respect the hard work that goes into it. But, is it not a form of bragging and unseemly pompousity, One title yes, two titles OK, but, I speek of more and more people with 3 or more sets after their names, is that not bragging? Has the ethics of pride changed so much?
not everyone thinks that pride is a sin
and you know the old saying, it isn’t bragging if you can do it…
-Imp
edited
Several years ago I read a great book about the south called Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. There was a chapter title that I liked called It Ain’t Braggin’ if Yah Done It! I think that’s true.
However, I only use my degree letters when I’m signing a work related document. Other than that I leave them off. Frankly, I’m not overly impressed but I have noticed that others either get excited about it or look troubled, so I don’t view it as important.
Imp,
Pride is in itself is not sinful although it is one of the 7 deadly sins, the over much pride would fall into the sinful category. A title worked for and earned is a matter of pride, enjoy it you earned it. Again though, piling intitialized titles after your name seems to be pompous and falling into that sinful category. If addressing a work related document use the title applicable, to throw all 3,4,or 5 on it is seemingly tacky. It seems to lack discretion and perhaps esteem for others and yourself. In the past this was how it was done, now days it seems to have changed. It reeks of a bourgeois attitude.
well when the kid says “I’m better than yooouuuu…” all you have to do is reply, “not in everything” and clean his clock…
just remember there is always someone somewhere who is better at it than you… well except for reading ones own handwriting…
-Imp