Honorific
An honorific is a title that conveys esteem, courtesy, or respect for position or rank when used in addressing or referring to a person. Sometimes, the term "honorific" is used in a more specific sense to refer to an honorary academic title. It is also often conflated with systems of honorific speech in linguistics, which are grammatical or morphological ways of encoding the relative social status of speakers. Honorifics can be used as prefixes or suffixes depending on the appropriate occasion and presentation in accordance with style and customs.
For honorifics in Japanese and Korean grammar, see Honorifics (linguistics).Typically, honorifics are used as a style in the grammatical third person, and as a form of address in the second person. Some languages have anti-honorific (despective or humilific) first person forms (expressions such as "your most humble servant" or "this unworthy person") whose effect is to enhance the relative honor accorded to the person addressed.
Opposition and alternatives[edit]
People who have a strong sense of egalitarianism, such as Quakers and certain socialists, and others, eschew honorific titles. When addressing or referring to someone, they often use the person's name, an informal pronoun, or some other style implying social equality, such as "brother", "sister", "friend", or "comrade". This was also the practice in Revolutionary France and socialist countries which used Citoyen[ne] ("Citizen") as the manner of address. Also, some revolutionary governments abolished or banned the use of honorifics. One example is Turkey, which abolished honorifics and titles in 1934.[17] Although it was abolished, titles such as "ağa" (for landlords) and "paşa" (for high-ranking military officials) continued to be used by people.
Feminist criticism of the use of separate honorifics for married and unmarried women (Mrs. and Miss) has led to some women adopting the honorific "Ms."