How to talk about the PM of the UK.

I'm seeing a lot of international messages getting this wrong, so this is how you refer to the Prime Minister of the UK.

First, we normally refer to the PM just by name, like anyone else. So, "Keir Starmer" or "Mr Starmer".

"Prime Minister" is not used as a title like "President" is. He's not "Prime Minister Starmer". He's just "the Prime Minister" or "the Prime Minister, Keir Starmer".

Unusually, this new PM is also a knight. Of course, this has its own rules.

If you want to use this title, it's not quite as simple as replacing "Mr" with "Sir'. The first name is more important than the surname here. He's not "Sir Starmer". He's "Sir Keir Starmer" or "Sir Keir".

Hope it helps!

sanguinepar ,
@sanguinepar@lemmy.world avatar

Agreed in general, but I think 'Prime Minister Starmer' is fine tbh, when used by non UK media and people generally.

Quetzalcutlass ,

He's "Sir Keir Starmer" or "Sir Keir".

Oh, so when you say it it's alright, but when we say it "it's called football". Double standards much?

idiomaddict ,

Incredible username

BigDanishGuy ,

Mother fucker! I nearly broke my tongue just trying to pronounce that in my head

anonymous111 ,

Kier Elizabeth Starmer

ChairmanMeow , (edited )
@ChairmanMeow@programming.dev avatar

The Right Honourable Member of Parliament Sir Keir Rodney Starmer, Knight of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath, King's Council to His Royal Majesty Charles the Third, by the Grace of God of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of His other Realms and Territories, King, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith, Lord of Mann, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Anything less is offensive and requires a licence.

postgeographix ,

Or you can just abbreviate that to "Cunt"

We all do it over here in blighty

BigDanishGuy ,

The right honourable, Sir Cunt?

postgeographix ,

He's not honorable, and fuck his landed title. Just 'right cunt' is better

ADTJ ,

Here in the UK, you'll need a licence rather than a license :)

No_Ones_Slick_Like_Gaston ,

Oi mate, do you have a Loicense for that license?

slackassassin ,

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQwQIkEVx37QKflKqX8BTZgpKnsVWgKu0okSiY8CJbMqA&s

Puttaneska ,

And titles (e.g., Miss, Ms, Mr, Mrs, Dr, Prof.) aren’t used with only the first name.

(Though the BBC likes to do this with their ‘celebrity’ doctors).

awesome_lowlander ,

Who?

LordOfLocksley ,

Dr Michael Mosley

echodot ,

And, Professor Brian Cox.

morbidcactus ,

Canada's Westminster system the PM also gets Right Honourable as an title, going to assume it's similar based on some googling so you could totally use The Rt Hon Sir Keir Starmer, but I've very very rarely seen news media use full titles outside of reporting on ceremonial activities.

beforan ,
@beforan@lemm.ee avatar

I think he has that title too by virtue of being an MP, not the PM.

other MPs (I assume all but could be wrong) are also Right Honourable.

Tamo240 , (edited )

Actually MPs are just 'Honourable', only Privy Council members are 'Right Honourable'.

beforan ,
@beforan@lemm.ee avatar

Aha, thanks.

Yeah I noticed some of the cabinet (Angela Raynor, Ed Milliband) had right honourable, but not all, but I didn't know the criteria.

Wanderer ,

Hardly anyone used the Queens full title. I'm actually not sure if the King has fewer titles but I bet it's still long.

But the one that is absolutely wrong is Queen/King of England. There hasn't been a King/Queen of England for hundreds of years.

T156 ,

Is there a Wrong Dishonourable title?

victorz ,

I'm not too familiar with knighthood. How did he become knighted?

1rre ,

He did a fairly good job as the head of criminal prosecutions in the UK for around 5 years, and he was knighted to recognise that when he stepped down

victorz ,

That's... it? You can get knighted for being "fairly good" at your job for half a decade, and then quitting?

Heck, I'm "fairly good" as a software developer. I'm pretty darn good actually, and have been working for more than half a decade, and I don't intend to quit. Where do I queue for one of them knightings? 😅🗡️

christophski ,

Hmm depends, were quite good as Head of Software Development for the United Kingdom?

victorz ,

No. 😞 But maybe I could be, if all it takes is to be fairly good? 🥹

1rre , (edited )

And how many millions of people are fairly good at being a software developer?

I think "fairly good" was an understatement on my part... Tim Berners-Lee got a knighthood for being "fairly good" as a software developer, as he invented the worldwide web. Kier Starmer got a knighthood for being "fairly good" as a public procecutor for handling a number of cases of national importance extremely well. What have you done that has significantly changed the country for the better?

You've got to consider the difficulty/seniority of the job, a general doing a "fairly good" job is more likely to get a medal than a private doing a "fairly good" job who'll get fuck all

victorz ,

Sorry if it isn't obvious – I'm facetiously joking in all of these comments. 😇 Just playing on the "fairly good" phrasing and memeing on it. 😉

T156 , (edited )

That's... it? You can get knighted for being "fairly good" at your job for half a decade, and then quitting?

Yes. Knighthood is generally up to the whims of the monarch. Although to make it there, it's generally expected you have an achievement significant enough to be befitting of one.

But from what I recall, there's little stopping his majesty from conferring a knighthood onto Chief Mouser Larry for his research into the napping suitability of 10 Downing Street's furniture, if he wanted to do that.

southsamurai ,
@southsamurai@sh.itjust.works avatar

In fairness, this only applies in formal communication with someone from England. Even then, not everyone will choose to recognize his title, despite recognizing his position as PM.

It's still good to know! Never hurts to have understanding of formalities like this, and it's interesting. It's just that the application of it isn't going to come up often in places that aren't part of the Commonwealth

idiomaddict ,

Are you allowed to not use the title? Like, could a newspaper call him starmeyboy?

Apepollo11 OP ,

Absolutely - if anything, there's a reluctance to use formal titles in the UK in general.

I used to teach at university - students and staff alike just use first names when addressing each other. When signing emails, we just use our first name, no letters, job title, anything.

It's even something specifically touched on in our orientation guide for foreign students.

As for newspapers and Prime Ministers specifically, one of the biggest newspapers, The Guardian, has a cartoonist who has always drawn David Cameron with a condom covering his head. There's absolutely no deference shown to Prime Ministers here.

weeahnn ,
@weeahnn@lemmy.world avatar

What? You mean to tell me that he is not called Sir Prime Minister Mr. Keir Rodney Starmer? Unbelievable.

SubArcticTundra ,
@SubArcticTundra@lemmy.ml avatar

I'm calling him Mr. Sir

weeahnn ,
@weeahnn@lemmy.world avatar

Mr. Sir Man

vonxylofon ,

Maybe. Who am I to judge?

Carighan ,
@Carighan@lemmy.world avatar

It's doctor, actually.

Klear ,

Doctor, Mr. Sir, Doctor.

vzq ,

OI MATE YEW GOT A LOISENSE TO TAWK ABOUT SIR KEIR?

Fedegenerate ,

You gotta TAWK TUAH to get to know 'er.

acockworkorange ,

Spit on dat thang!

Iheartcheese ,
@Iheartcheese@lemmy.world avatar

I figured this was going to be somebody wanting to talk about his politics or something like that but no it's just a pedantic Englishman pissed that people are using the wrong title

vikingtons ,
@vikingtons@lemmy.world avatar

to be fair, pedantry is one of our key exports

Nfamwap ,

Capital T.

vikingtons ,
@vikingtons@lemmy.world avatar

Sincerest apologies m'kind fellow!

tegs_terry ,

Put a comma after "apologies".

snekmuffin ,
@snekmuffin@lemmy.dbzer0.com avatar

Punctuation goes inside of quotes, "like this."

tegs_terry ,

Only if it's part of the quote. In this case, because "apologies" wasn't followed by a full stop, it doesn't go within the quotation marks.

acockworkorange ,

PedanTry?

Land_Strider ,

Your T is already capital!

shyguyblue ,

And we love you for it! My current favorite YouTuber is doing a "Star Trek Reviewed by a pedant" https://youtube.com/@unlimited_lives?si=h3DEcI8wWpVj-MgK

vikingtons ,
@vikingtons@lemmy.world avatar

haaa this is brill

helpImTrappedOnline ,

Why bother getting to know their politics? The UK has been going through Prime Ministers faster than McDonalds fry cooks.

/s

Haus ,

Not to mention cabbages.

echodot ,

That always ends up happening. Whenever a government has being in power for too long they start to break into 90 different factions and spend their entire time fighting each other, and not getting anything else done.

Also a certain group of the Conservatives have started to play by the Republican Party playbook, while the rest of them are politely asking if maybe they could not be fascists? Of course appeasement never works so apparently the next best option is to have giant arguments about it and replace the PM every 10 minutes.

Fortunately Labour are another party, and regardless of what you think about them as a party, they are at least different and are less fractional currently, so perhaps now we can get something done.

sunzu ,

That's daddy Starmer for you, boy

vikingtons ,
@vikingtons@lemmy.world avatar

we also like to refer to our PM as tosser or wanker

TheMinions ,

That’s Sir tosser to you!

vikingtons ,
@vikingtons@lemmy.world avatar

this guy politcs

dhork ,

Unless you're Harriet Jones, Prime Minister

https://youtu.be/qOrbrjBQf7Y

Worx ,

Yeah, but we all already know who she is

EleventhHour ,
@EleventhHour@lemmy.world avatar

Damn you, you beat me to it

southsamurai ,
@southsamurai@sh.itjust.works avatar

She looks tired

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