Home > Etiquette > Salutation, Greeting, and Introduction Tips > Honorable Always Retained for Former Officials

Enter headline here

Merchants--you can control the text in this area by editing the Intro-text field on the Home page (switch to advanced mode). You can insert HTML for links to top-selling products, special promotional section pages, or link images.

Enter headline here

Honorable Always Retained for Former Officials





Dear Dr. Dave and Dr. Dee,

A former Governor from this state is now the CEO of my husband's company. There are various opinions as to how he should be addressed when spoken to: Governor, Governor Smith, Mr. Smith, or simply John. He seems to accept any of these. Which is most proper?

Signed,

Wondering

Dear Wondering,

Since he doesn't seem to mind, as a courtesy, you could call the former governor, "Governor Smith" in person. But the proper way to address him would be to call him Mr. Smith. However, if the former governor then says, "Oh, call me John." Then, it is polite to do so, thereafter.

The proper way to introduce him would be to say, "May I introduce The Honorable John Smith, former governor of XXX." The XXX is replaced by the state name.

One title that always remains is The Honorable. "Once an honorable always an honorable" (Hickey at http://www.formsofaddress.info/USO.html).




FREE SHIPPING on orders $25 and over!