Sheenglishing heenglish; English and women titles (part one)

Hello sirs, madams, pas and mas, it is my delight to call our attention to the subtle confusions of titles and words associated with addressing men and women in social contexts. I won’t devour the termite of your time with circumlocution, trust me.

The Heenglish language is indeed a patriarchal fortress. If not, the linguistic disparities that exist between feminine and masculine English words would have been strangled out of existence. Anyway, that’s why it’s called He English (Heenglish) and not She English (Sheenglish).

What does the word ‘sir’ refer to? Did I hear you say a polite way of addressing a man? Correct! You can also add ‘especially if that man were a man of authority.’ You then say ‘pardon me, sir.’ Oh, it’s also the salutation in a formal letter meant for a man in power? You are not wrong. That is why salutation often goes thus: Dear Sir,.

In the Uk, ‘Sir’ is a title – title of a knight (someone, a man, that has been honoured by the King or Queen of England for their public service or personal achievement). It comes before the first name or the first and family names of a person who has been knighted. E.g. Sir Tafawa Balewa. Sir Walter Raleigh.

To pluralise ‘sir’, attach the morpheme ‘s’ to its back. E.g. Sirs Tafawa Balewa and Walter Raleigh belong to two different centuries. Good morning, sirs.

It is also acceptable to use the word “Gentlemen” as the plural of ‘sir.’ E.g Good evening, gentlemen. This may be confusing because the singular form of ‘gentlemen’ that we are familiar with is ‘gentleman,’ however, sense of usage is emphasized wherever ‘gentlemen’ is used as the plural of ‘sir.’  ‘Hello, sirs’ and ‘Hello, gentlemen’ ultimately share the same meaning. A man worthy of the appellation of ‘sir’ is expected to be a gentleman.

‘Sir’ is also believed to be the plural of ‘Sir.’ The reason for this is that ‘Sir’ is often considered to have been used in a collective sense. That is, all the men at an event are addressed together as a singular unit of noble males. Users of ‘Sir’ as the plural of ‘Sir’ find no sense in using a morpheme or an irregular pattern of plurality to show pluralism since all the men present in a place are regarded honourable.

‘Sirs’ does not specifically recognize individual nobility except when ‘Sir’comes before the name of a specific individual as we have in Sir Walter Scott. You just might be offending men of honour gathered in a place if you wrap them up with just a ‘Sir.’ When you do that, some of them believe, that you belittle their individual and public achievements.

Written by Omidire Idowu.

Omidire, Idowu Joshua is a researcher, passionate writer, and an editor who has worked on several projects with various companies. You may reach him at noblelifeliver@gmail.com for content development and editing services