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Wednesday, May 31, 2006
Hey. From today’s Washington Post: Dear Miss Manners: It’s a small subject, maybe, but one to which I’ve given some thought. First: I’m pleased that students virtually always write Dear Professor Soltan in emails (I’ve never gotten Dear Dr. Margaret Soltan -- that sounds weird). As our email relationship heats up, the student will often shorten things to Professor, or Prof Soltan, which I also like. Some students will start our email idyll with Hello, which is fine as well. Wild hairy hippie students, for whom I have a soft spot, will sometimes go right to Hey. Or Hey! Miss Manners would be appalled, but I don’t mind. Second: When I respond, I sign myself Margaret Soltan, or, if we’re a little more intime, Margaret S. Virtually never Margaret. Most students continue to address me, in further emails, as Professor. To be sure, most of my activities at this point in my life are pathetic efforts to make myself feel young, so Miss Manners must be right that my disinclination to sign myself Professor Soltan is part of that whole thing. What it mainly feels like to me, though, is my all-American skittishness when it comes to formal titles. Having spent time in Europe, I’m phobic about the slightest chance of being confused with horrific Dottoressas. |