First it's numerous clauses and now Bill Clinton is president emeritus – SACK THEM
The daft buggers at Maltastar think he's a president emeritus
Maltastar, today
American President emeritus Bill Clinton has asked the Youtube communities to post videos giving various opinions on issues that matter to them.
How bloody stupid can you get? PRESIDENT EMERITUS IS A TITLE IN ITSELF. IT DOES NOT MEAN THE SAME THING AS FORMER PRESIDENT.
If we ever had any doubt about newspapers being one of the main agents in the promotion of linguistic errors, this should clear it up. President Emeritus is a title the late Guido de Marco bestowed on himself when he ceased to be president of the republic. It was therefore neither a title nor legitimate.
And yet the newspapers picked it up and ran with it, in the maddeningly daft belief that it means ‘ex president’. The merest bit of research on the internet, even if they didn’t have any protocol experts to consult, would have shown them that nowhere in the world are former state leaders or politicians referred to as ’emeritus’.
That’s reserved for university professors and presidents, and it is AN ACTUAL TITLE bestowed on them by the organisation which employed them before they retired. They do not automatically earn the right TO CALL THEMSELVES OR BE CALLED ’emeritus’ just because they have retired.
The Republic of Malta has not created the title of President Emeritus and so it should never be used in respect of our former presidents, who should be called just that: former president.
Using the description ‘president emeritus’ is more ridiculous still in respect of the presidents of other states, more so when their role was that of an elected politician, as with Bill Clinton and Maltastar.
PRESIDENT EMERITUS BILL CLINTON – lie down and weep. Or go and watch Eastenders, which is what I’m going to do.
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Dear Daphne
I think you should see this shopping list! It reminds me of the people you write about sometimes :)
NO!
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100914/wl_nm/us_italy_libya_shooting
Are they saying it would have been fine to shoot if there had been immigrants?
Disgraceful!
What about Guzeppi Mercieca? Does he have the right to be an emeritus?
[Daphne – It’s not about rights. It’s about correct usage of titles and proper understanding of their meaning. If the Vatican has decided to confer the title of Archbishop Emeritus on former archbishop Joseph Mercieca, then that is the proper way to refer to him. But if the Vatican did not, then it is not. At the risk of boring you with repetition, the words ’emeritus’ and ‘former’ are not interchangeable and one cannot confer a title on oneself or have it conferred on one by the media. Titles are given by the appropriate body: in the case of former presidents, that body is parliament, and in the case of former archbishops, it is the bosses in Rome. ]
(Code of Canon Law)
Can. 402 §1. A bishop whose resignation from office has been accepted retains the title of emeritus of his diocese and can retain a place of residence in that diocese if he so desires, unless in certain cases the Apostolic See provides otherwise because of special circumstances.
Recent American presidents continue to be called “President”. So the correct form should have been “President Bill Clinton”. Or perhaps the 42nd President of the United States or just simply Bill Clinton. We all know who he is.
Actually, the proper protocol is that you revert back to the highest non-unique (remember President is unique) title. So in the case of Bill Clinton, it would be Senator Bill Clinton, but I think he’s used to President.
I am sorry to disappoint you, but your reaearch has been rather superficial.
In Italy former presidents are called Presidenti Emeriti. Besides in the US, Emeritus is also sometimes used for retired judges. Emeritus is not a title that is necessarily bestowed on someone, but it means that the person carries the title of office he formerly held. The latter is particulary true in the case of bishops. In plain terms, a bishop emeritus is just a retired bishop.
[Daphne – I’m afraid you’re wrong. But then we do live in Malta, where it is an ongoing struggle to remember that there is a right way and a wrong way and that English is not ours to reinvent or titles to invent. When you are speaking Italian and living in Italy, do and say what the Italians do. When you are speaking English and living in Malta, speak English and abide by Maltese usage. The title of president emeritus does not exist, either in the English language to describe former or retired heads of state, or in the Maltese Constitution. In Malta, a former president is a former president and not a president emeritus.]
David is wrong. First of all, in Italy there is a specific law by which former presidents are assigned the title of Emerito. The law regulates all the privileges given to former presidents bestowed with the title of Presidente Emerito (including, as an example, use of the Italian flag and other emblems).
I stand to be corrected here, but I actually do not think that all former presidents automatically become Presidente Emerito.
David, in Italy they had to legislate specifically to allow former presidents to use the ‘presidente emerito’ title and the practice exists only since 1998. In Malta we have no comparable laws and the title is, at best, unofficial.
In any case, as a famous person once wrote, what’s in a name?
Bloody everything. I’m waging my own one-man battle against “Ing.” and “Perit”.
EastEnders…such a better choice than maltastar…DOOF DOOF DOOOF DOOF DO-DO DOOF…