[Taxacom] Honorifics for M.A.s

[Peter Rauch]

Let's not confuse honorifics with titles earned in recognition of
completing specific courses of study.

There's no harm done --when introducing a personality to an audience-- in
relating to the audience some of the accomplishments, achievements, and
other contextual matter about the speaker, to refer to their formal, earned
educational degree. Shorthand communications, such as "...whose PhD was
earned in XYZ...", is sometimes a sufficient indication for certain
purposes.

The original poster wondered out loud whether there is a need for and an
appropriate way to recognize (in shorthand) certain accomplishments of,
when introducing, speakers who may not have formally earned a particular
title or other epithet.

That said, "magister" --perhaps simply due to the unfamiliarity of that
term in the context questioned-- seems awkward, or pompous, or
insufficiently descriptive, and I would also prefer to, "...simply say,
 "I would like to introduce John Doe, whose lecture is entitled, ....""

Peter

On Sun, Mar 5, 2017 at 12:56 PM, Dan Bickel <Dan.Bickel at austmus.gov.au>
wrote:

> Why do we we need honorifics anyway?  They merely serve as masks for
> people to hide behind.
> I have met plenty of people with PhDs who are idiots and fools -
> university campuses are full of them.
>
> Almost any one with half a brain can grind a way and get a PhD - big
> deal!  Don't let this serve as a cover for the real person. There is an old
> saying, "The bigger the front, the bigger the behind".
>
> Did Socrates have a B.A. in philosophy,  Galileo a M.S. in physics or
> Leonardo da Vinci a M.A. in Fine Arts? And what about Charles Darwin ?
> So Freeman Dyson didn't have a Ph.D. - so what?  Einstein worked as a
> patents clerk in Bern while he was developing his theory of special
> relativity.
>
> To introduce a speaker at a lecture, simply say,   "I would like to
> introduce John Doe, whose lecture is entitled,  'On the superficiality of
> academic  titles and honorifics'
>
>
>
>
> Daniel J. Bickel
> Entomology, Australian Museum,  1 William Street Sydney NSW 2010 Australia
> T 61 2 9320 6347   F 61 2 9320 6011
>
> ____________________________________________
> On Sun, 5/3/17, Richard Zander <Richard.Zander at mobot.org<mailto:
> Richard.Zander at mobot.org>> wrote:
>
> Subject: [Taxacom] Honorifics for M.A.s
> To: "Taxacom(taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu<mailto:taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu>}"
> <taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu<mailto:taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu>>
> Received: Sunday, 5 March, 2017, 9:43 AM
>
>  I remember going to a lecture by Freeman Dyson and the guy  whointroduced
> him went on and on about him not having a  Ph.D. but he was AOK anyway.
> Embarrassing. There are  several highly productive researchers here who
> only have  M.A. degrees, and Mr. or Ms. seems pedestrian. I recommend  that
> a term be devised and used as an honorific for such  people. I suggest the
> term "Magister." Kind of high-falutin  but apparently cognate with a
> "Masters" degree, see  Wikipedia.
>
>  -------
> Richard H. Zander
> Missouri Botanical Garden - 4344 Shaw Blvd. - St. Louis -  Missouri -
> 63110 - USA  richard.zander at mobot.org<mailto:richard.zander at mobot.org
> <mailto:richard.zander at mobot.org%3cmailto:richard.zander at mobot.org>>
> Web sites: http://www.mobot.org/plantscience/bfna/bfnamenu.htm and
> http://www.mobot.org/plantscience/resbot/
>  _______________________________________________
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