When I received the proofs for my IJMC papers, the e-mail addressed me as “dear professor Sotala” (for those who aren’t aware, I don’t even have a Master’s degree, let alone a professorship). When I mentioned this on Facebook, some people mentioned that there are countries where it’s a huge faux pas to address a professor as anything else than a professor. So since “professor” is the highest form of address, everyone tends to get called that in academic communication, just to make sure that nobody’ll be offended—even if the sender is 95% sure that the other isn’t actually a professor.
I really would not have guessed that it would be considered polite or appropriate to call someone a “higher” form of address than they’re entitled to, especially when it actually refers to something concrete. Learn something new every day, I guess.
When I received the proofs for my IJMC papers, the e-mail addressed me as “dear professor Sotala” (for those who aren’t aware, I don’t even have a Master’s degree, let alone a professorship). When I mentioned this on Facebook, some people mentioned that there are countries where it’s a huge faux pas to address a professor as anything else than a professor. So since “professor” is the highest form of address, everyone tends to get called that in academic communication, just to make sure that nobody’ll be offended—even if the sender is 95% sure that the other isn’t actually a professor.
I really would not have guessed that it would be considered polite or appropriate to call someone a “higher” form of address than they’re entitled to, especially when it actually refers to something concrete. Learn something new every day, I guess.