Perhaps I should just leave this rant off here, but there have been incidents as of late in my hobby that are causing issues.



All pertaining to titles.



Now, in our hobby, we have titles for awards we have received. An award of arms, a grant of arms, a crown, a peerage. Everything comes with a wonderful new way of being addressed. In our game, it’s a lovely thing.



But there are times we shouldn’t use titles. At all.



In the Society for Creative Anachronism, we have a business side to keep everything running. The purpose of the business side is to keep the financial and operational side of our hobby operating smoothly. Until recently, I enjoyed participating in that aspect of this organization.

Lately, I have noticed more and more often that titles and roles are being used within the side of the hobby that has nothing to do with titles. It is establishing the hierarchy for operating the business. A person should never use the titles of their position when the position has nothing to do with the administration side of things.

Example: (This is completely made up) A Duchess comes into a business meeting and insists on being addressed as such. The Seneschal may be newer to the game and be intimidated by a woman that has sat the throne multiple times. It will influence the decisions of the group, that may not be in the best interest of the organization.

Second Example: (This has happened) A person was given an award at an event but was not in attendance. There is a tradition that everyone “hushes” to keep it a secret. This happened recently. And then the person found out because that group insists on using titles for business purposes. The surprise was ruined for them. The Crown is now in a difficult position because they may have had plans of how they presented the scroll to them.

Side note: There is always a beautiful scroll handed out with every award. It can be framed and hung in their home.

I am aware of the second example because the individual is a friend. They are devastated that they found out in a business email and not in the magic of their hobby.

In the modern world, you only use the titles and honorifics that pertain to the situation. My spouse would never sign is full work title for the military in an email to our house cleaner. I would never use my SCA titles when addressing an editor for my publishing house.



So the point of this is: titles have no place in the business meeting or emails pertaining to the operation of the SCA. Keep the business to the business side of it and let the magic and Dream take place at events.