How to Address an Attorney General

[marybourg]

A side issue in a recent, now locked, thread was how to address an Attorney General. Attorney General Lynch had been referred to as "General". I pointed out that she is not a general (but is a general attorney), and someone linked to an article which reported that some states apparently did refer to their AG's as "General" That statement however turns out to be a subordinate paragraph where the primary response is: http://www.formsofaddress.info/attorney_general.html

"How to Address an Attorney General
Note: An Attorney General is not addressed as General (name). . . .

The Attorney General of the United States

Envelope, official:
The Honorable (Full name) Attorney General of the United States


Letter salutation:
Dear Mr./Madam Attorney General:


FYI, here is what's come in to the Blog that relates to this office/rank. . . .

Is an Attorney General Addressed as "General"?
General is a military rank and form of address of a person holding that rank. Why do some journalists (print and broadcast) address the Attorney General (US and state) as “General?” Isn’t this grammatically incorrect in that in the title Attorney General, the word general is an adjective modifying/limiting the noun attorney?

Dear R. F.:
My first reaction is that you are right -- I am not familiar with General being used as an honorific for an Attorney General. The Attorney General of the United States is addressed most formally as Mr. Attorney General.
I mentioned the question to a room full of trainees at The Protocol School of Washington's Protocol Officer Training and they thought the use was bizarre. But most of them were from the government and military where they have plenty of generals in uniform wearing stars.
But I do see on the National Association of Attorneys General website they use General (Surname) in the bios of some of their member attorneys general.
Still not quite believing it I spoke to Chris Young, Chief of Protocol, State of Georgia and an attorney. He says attorneys general and solicitors general are addressed and referred to as General (Surname)" {here followed the quote in the locked thread}
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10027973316#post43

I also feel that addressing an AG as "General" is bizarre and is the result of recent error following error. I had contact with federal and state AG's offices during my (long-ago) career and never heard them so addressed.

[BumRushDaShow]

1. Interesting

I know that "Surgeon General" does have a rank (PHS Commissioned Corps), but never thought to confuse Attorney General with someone in a uniformed service!

[Ex Lurker]

5. Yet they wear a modifited Navy uniform

It should be Surgeon Admiral

[BumRushDaShow]

6. The other PHS folks do have naval ranks.

The Corps evolved out of the Marines (where the Marines have army ranks).

[MADem]

2. YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I cannot tell you how much I agree with your observations.

It seems to me that this kind of shit started happening during the Era of Great Stupidity--i.e., the Reagan Administration...and it has gotten worse over time. I wasn't aware of it in earlier years.

The first time I heard that 'General' crap I said "WTF? Where's his fruit salad, polished shoes, and absurd hat?"

[malthaussen]

3. It's the same thing with Inspectors General...

... who in the military do not necessarily hold General rank. (Depends on the level of the office. And of course the service, since the Navy doesn't have generals to begin with)

As stated above, the "general" is an adjective modifying the noun, which is why the proper plural is "Attorneys General" and not "Attorney Generals." The same applies, e.g., to Courts Martial. (The latter can get weird, though, since "Court Martial" is also used colloquially as a verb, viz "Court Martialled." This is incorrect grammatically, but a lot shorter than "Tried by Court Martial.&quot

-- Mal

[Nye Bevan]

4. Similarly, the plural of "whopper junior" is "whoppers junior".....

http://www.theonion.com/article/william-safire-orders-two-whoppers-junior-3351