By Lisanu Tesema - July 22, 2009 — Educated or uneducated, some Ethiopians have little understanding of the relevance of titles and honorific. We have, for instance, Meles Zenawi’s former Ambassador to Kenya. His proper title is Ato, as far as I know. He is currently Zenawi’s speaker of the rubber stamp parliament. On TV, in “parliament”, in private, in public and even in kitchens the man uses “ambassador” as his title and the cumbersome honorific, His Excellency.
This man is none other than Teshome Toga. A recent documentary, a kind of lamentable self-promotion shown on ETV, was even entitled “Ambassador Teshome Toga’s routines in parliament” despite the fact that he is currently serving Meles as a “house speaker.”
If at all “ambassador” is a title that should never kept for life, it should be correctly used as “former ambassador” as he is no longer servicing as head of a diplomatic mission. But to be fair to the man, he is not alone. Former ambassadors of the imperial regime, Derg and the current ethnocratic clan are still stuck in such titles as ambassador, minister, commissioner and the like and some demand to be exalted as such.
Long after their jobs were over, either through defection and retirement, they use this cumbersome “titles” and others meekly call them “Ambassador Teshome”, “Minister Hagos”, “Commissioner Bereket” etc, and the title-obsessed former officials get puffed up. But what the mis-users of personal titles don’t know, or pretend not to notice, is the fact that job titles are not for life.
Honorific, though quite traditional that originated in ancient royal courts, is a recognizable legal title such as His Excellency, Your Excellency, Your Honour, His Royal Highness etc. Even honorific is not title for life but is used in reference to a political office.
Why is it then that people who have left their offices long ago, or defected for that matter, think that they are still holding on to their jobs…still ambassadors, generals or ministers in Ethiopia?
Why are we required to use titles to refer to people, who no longer hold their “beloved” offices, however wrong and confusing they are, for no apparent reasons than just to boost the ego of these former appointees of succeeding bad, dictatorial and unpopular governments that have never served their people well? If they must use these titles and old honorific, they should remind us that they are not currently holding the political offices by adding the adjective former or the prefix ex. That would clear the confusion as well as save the ego of the former diplomats, ministers, generals, commanders, commissioners… who love misusing useless titles and honorific.
There are also others, engineers for life. Normally, engineer is not also an honorific but a job title. However, our older generation still thinks that it is a title and demands us to call an engineer with his job title. Former or ancient engineers use “engineer” as their life time title.
In Ethiopia, time doesn’t go fast. It is slow and change is hard to come by as there is resistance to change. The world is moving faster while we are stuck in tradition. Whoever starts a wrong tradition or a popular mistake, knowingly and unknowingly, is often immortalized when others repeat the mistake forever. But at some point, we need to realize that correction is needed.
Though unrelated to the main point I have raised, I would like to touch upon two examples of perennial mistakes we never tried to correct. It may be a foreigner who misspells our capital city as “Addis Ababa”, which is not only wrong but changes the flower into an old man. Children use “ababa” to refer to an older person. The correct spelling should have been abeba, which is the Amharic equivalent for flower. So which one is Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa [sic] or Addis Abeba? A new old man or a new flower?
The choice is ours as the foreigners who made the mistake did not know the difference.
Anyway, titles should not be kept for life but need to be used correctly as mistakes should also be corrected at one point. Students who never correct their mistakes learn little and may even repeat their mistakes again and again.
July 23rd, 2009 at 9:28 am
Mellese zenaws daughter starts crying for a toy and all woyanne gugmangoogs run away and bought many different toys but she did not stop crying and her mother asked her why are you still crying you got many of them her daughter looks her in the eyes and said i need teshome toga aboy sebhat stands near by and shouted her stop this nonsence teshome is a toy for your father (political fun)with a substance inside
July 23rd, 2009 at 10:58 am
መልከ ጥፉ በስም ይደግፉ ነው:: Since woyanes don’t have anything achieved to be proud of themselves they call each other by a feel good name. Basically they are a bunch of shameless,ignorant opportunists. They don’t have any education they are appointees and they even do not deserve to be on public service at all. Unfortunately, they cling after killing innocents.
July 23rd, 2009 at 11:07 am
What is the significanceof such an article while there are so many things to deal. It is simply waste of time. Thus, lessanu before you start writing please think over the significance of the subjet in the current Ethiopian politics.
July 23rd, 2009 at 11:45 am
Ato Lisanu
You have touched an underlining problem that exists in Ethiopia’s bureaucracy. In fact, some years ago, this very issue was being hotly debated online between Mulugeta A. Kassa from UK and Fekade Shewkena from the States. Mulugeta argued against the notion of addressing the speaker of a soverign Ethiopian Parliament as “Ambassador” because it would be an oxymoron. Fekade, on the otherhand, argued that it was right for people, like Kassa Kebe, for example, to address themselves as Ambassadors years after they left for a self-imposed exile. The truth of the matter remains that Ambassador - like Prime Minister - is a post and not a title. The correct form would be - as you so rigthfully put it - former Ambassador Teshome Toga. There is no such thing as once an Ambassador, always Ambassador.
July 23rd, 2009 at 11:54 am
We ethiopians are badly addicted to titles.
It is our history to call someone ambassador, dr, engineer, architect….etc….
Only medical doctors are supposed to be called Dr.
You would also call a college professor with his title.
But you should do not call a PHD holder in sociology or economics Dr. so and so. You just use his name. That is all. Just look at the westerners. They never misuse such titles. For example Germany’s chancellor is a Dr. of Physics. Nobody ever calls her Dr. Merkel or so. They call Mrs. Merkel. The FDP party chairman Guido Westerwelle is gas a Dr. title.Nobody calls him Dr.. so and so.. In some relevent writings, they just put his Dr. title in a bracket. I personally know a PHD hoölder, who said,. please dont call me a doctor! That is it. These days anyone can get doctor title from so many colleges by correspondence or by paying for it. When do we ethiopians get civilized and get away with such personal gratifications and egos??
Please dont call dr. taye, engineer hailu, engineer gizachew, dr. tilahun gessese, dr. berhanu bla bla bla..all day along. It is really sickening. It only shows our backwardness.
July 23rd, 2009 at 12:19 pm
በጣም ቆንጆ ትንታኔ - ቆንጆ ፖይንት
July 23rd, 2009 at 1:07 pm
I read somewhere that the spelling of our capital city was during Haile Sellasie’s time defined as “Addis Ababa”.It is backed by law.
July 23rd, 2009 at 1:13 pm
So what ? Write some stratgy how to defeat Woyane. We know the enemy in and out.
We should exchange ideas, strategies and war plan in this forum. Here is one: We should first totally foucus on destroying Agazzi, the power source of woyane.
July 23rd, 2009 at 1:26 pm
From Getachew Reda- the fact is that you hate the former officials, ancient kings, generals, engineers to call them with their titles, since they are no longer Generals or kings: you also hate the present Generals and Diplomats; then have you had Generals, Diplomats, Commanders, Kings in your country? If yes, how do you identify them if you do not want anyone to call these officials by their former rank? www.ethiopiansemay.blogspot.com
July 23rd, 2009 at 3:45 pm
It’s a good article, but this mistakes came from the so called educated people.
July 23rd, 2009 at 6:24 pm
Yeap, That is write. Long a go I was arguing about Addis Ababa like u said it well. All given titles given while at work position, should be said as former or ex. such if needed otherwise should not be used at all. Can u call VOA and let them know via discussion or leave them Voice Messege.
thank you for correct information.
July 24th, 2009 at 1:50 am
what a garbage article!! confusing and childish
July 24th, 2009 at 8:34 am
This article in the first place not worth to read even though it is normal to add the title in the world. as for woyanne they dont even know what it means or they get the title by chewing khat (green leaf)
July 24th, 2009 at 10:16 am
johannes
I think you got it a little bit off track. The title of Dr is not only reserved for medical docotrs. PhDs also use this title. When it comes to Mrs Merkel and others - they don’t use the PhD title because they are not doing the job in which they are educated. So it will be nonsense to apply that to their name. However, when it comes to Condi Rice - she has a PhD in political science from Denver University. And often times, on major news networks here in US and mostly on BBC she used to be referred as Dr Rice. This is because the position she has was inline with her education - so calling her as Dr Rice would show her level of expertise. However it really doesn’t make any sense to call a chemist-turned-politician as Dr so and so - the reality is s/he is NOT doing that job now.
Other that this - I absolutely agree with you about these titles as engineer and the like that we unnecessarily use everywhere. I love and admire the late Tilahun - but addressing him as Dr is really absurd. Besides the title was given to him as honorary degree. However, it gives me a real sense of closeness when I call him gashie Tilahun. Don’t you?
The other problem we’ve is we almost always confuse the title “Professor” with the word “professor”. A “professor” is a college/university teacher - but it doesn’t mean that the person is a full Professor. To get to this level of full Professorship one has to pass the levels of Assistant and Associate Professor. And I know for sure that Mesfin Wolde Mariam is a full Professor but I don’t know why Adugnaw Worku is referred as “professor” or why he allowed us to do so.
By the way, Indians also share the same perspective like we do when it comes to this issue of title.
July 24th, 2009 at 3:52 pm
Correction to johannes post. It is not only the medical Dr. to be called doctors. Every body who have a PhD. has to be called Dr. becouse he or she earned it and here in the west as humility some Dr. drope their title and on the contrary others should call them Dr. for the doctors and Engineer for those who got their license to practice respectively. In the west it is a highly regulated profession and it has strict meaning it is not like woyane ruled ethiopia where every thing is run by instinct and ignorance.
July 24th, 2009 at 4:24 pm
Insightful and timely article.
For those who concluded that this is a rubbish issue not worth their time, here something to ponder on:
The fact that Ethiopia is a backward country is not the making of the current regime only; it runs much much deeper into our mentality and psyche: we live on empty pride and infantile hubris. This disease is particularly acute within one important community: our so-called elites. Like the aristrocrats of the past, they are pompous in their demeanor and cultivate vanity instead of humility. They want to maximize respect with a minimal effort.
If for Ethiopians it is still a big deal to have a phd, I can at least understand it because there still are very few people with such degree. But using “engineer” as a title?! How moronic!
July 24th, 2009 at 4:44 pm
Regarding the title I was laughing a lot when Tilalun passed the media people were going head over heels calling him Dr Artist. The line up of titles reminded me of Menge and now Aba Paulos :-) What about this coinage called Aertist for every 2 bit azmari :-)The media people who readily called Tilahun Dr for his honorary degree were calling Wro Sindu Gebru without it. I was wondering why since both got the honorary degree from AAU. Speaking of AAU, one of the comments talks about the confusion on the title of Professor. You know Dr Andrias Eshete never had tenure in the USA, so he was at most Assitant Professor? Yet he was addressed as Professor in Ethiopia!!
The accepted norm in USA is if you get an honorary doctorate, you will not be addresed as Dr. If you eraned a PhD, you can be called Dr, but most people do not do so unless they are in an academic setting.
July 24th, 2009 at 8:17 pm
Lisanu Tesema , you are wrong. If you have a PHD and a licensed Engineer, U can use the title Dr. and even engineer. Do you have a PHD or are you an Engineer? IF not go and get your PHD. OR study engineering and get your license to be called as Engineer in ther USA. Who told you that a medical doctor is the only Dr. A medical doctor W/O a PHD is only MD. BEKA my friend. STUDY HARD!!!!!!!
Thank YOU.
July 25th, 2009 at 12:25 am
Ahmed your jock is iretating and stupid it shows that you are not onlym shertam stupid lonly old man you are ugly misrable too .
July 26th, 2009 at 4:04 pm
http://www.eppfonline.org/Pages/eppfradio.htm
Cancer is killing ethiopia.
The cancer is the tigrain virus.
The virus is single stard RNA tigrains 11. the cancer must be destroyed before it kills mama ethiopia.
July 27th, 2009 at 7:30 am
አሁን በደረስንበት ዘመን ‘አቶ’የሚለው መግለጫ ፆታን የሚያመለክት ይመስለኛል :: ለአቅመ አዳም የደረሰ ወንድ መሆኑን ለመግለፅ:: ነገር ግን የማዕረግ ቅፅል አርገን ነው የምንወስደው:: በርግጥ ቀደም ባሉት ዘመናት ቀኛዝማች: ደጃዝማች.. እንደሚባለው አቶ ለሰዎች የሚሰጥ አንድ የማዕረግ ርከን እንደነበር አላውቅም:: ስለዚሕ ከዚሕ ከአቶ የተሻለ ማዕረግ ስንፈልግ እንገኛለን:: አቶ ዝቅተኛ ነው ብለን ስለምናስብ ዶ/ር: ኢንጂነር: አምባሳደር ወዘተ እያልን መጥራትን ለግለሰቡ የተሻለ ክብር ይሰጣል ብለን እናምናለን:: ነገር ግን ፀሓፊው እንዳሉት በጣም ቅጥ ያጣና ከሌሎች አገሮችም ልማድ የወጣ ሆኖብናል:: አንድን ሰው ለመጥራት እንደፈረንጆቹ የጾታ መግለጫ የሆኑትን አቶ/ወዘሪት/ወይዘሮ (Mr/Ms/Mrs) ለዘወትር መጠቀሚያ ብናደርገው ሌሎች የማእረግ ስሞችን ደግሞ በተገቢ ቦታዎች ብቻ (ለምሳሌ በአካዳሚክ ውይይት: በወታደር ቤት ውስጥ) ቢሆን ተገቢ ይመስለኛል:: አንዳንዴም ሰውየውን ያከበርነውና ያሞገስነው እየመሰለን የምናደርገው ነገር ፈጽሞ አይጥምም:: ለምሳሌ ጥላሁን ገሰሰን ክቡር ዶ/ር ሲባል አይመቸኝም:: የምትወደውንና የምታቀርበውን እንዲያውም በዘልማድ ፕሮቶኮሉን ጥለህ ቀጥታ በስሙ ነው የምትጠራው::
July 27th, 2009 at 7:49 pm
http://www.ginbot7.org/Audio/june-august2009/tdp1-090725-1700.ram
http://www.eppfonline.org/Pages/eppfradio.htm
Cancer is killing ethiopia.
The cancer is the tigrain virus. The virus is single stard RNA tigrains 11. the cancer must be destroyed before it kills mama ethiopia.
July 27th, 2009 at 7:51 pm
http://www.ginbot7.org/Audio/june-august2009/tdp1-090725-1700.ram
http://www.eppfonline.org/Pages/eppfradio.htm
Cancer is killing ethiopia.
The cancer is the tigrain virus.
The virus is single stard RNA tigrains 11. the cancer must be destroyed before it kills mama ethiopia.
July 29th, 2009 at 5:49 am
Ergata! የማዕርግ ስሞች እንደማይመችዎ ተናግረዋል:: ሃገራችን ኢትዮጵያ የብዙ ብሔረስብ ህዝብ ያሉባት ሃገር እንደመሆንዋ ሁሉ በየቋንቋው የትህትና መግለጫችንና የማንንነታችን አኩሪ የሆነውን የባህላችንን አጠራር ከዘመናዊው(የምሁራን ማእርግ) ወይም ወታደራዊ የሆነውን ሁሉ ፈጽሞ አይጥመኝም አይመቸኝም ብለዋልና: ካልተመቾትም ሆነ ካልጣሞት የሚወዱትንና የሚያቀርቡትን ሁሉ ዘርጥጠው በራስዎ ጊዜ ኢትዮጵያዊነትዎን ሁሉ እንደሚያጡና ግብረገብ የሌልዎት ግለሰብ ተብለው ምን እንደሚባሉ እርስዎም ሳያውቁት አይቀሩምና በጥልቀት ያስቡ:: በብሪታኒያ ከጥንት ጊዜ ጀምሮ ያለ ባህላዊ ሹመትና አጠራር እስካሁን በሚያኮራቸው አንደበት ይጠራሩበታል:: ይኽውም:- ሎርድ… በኢትዮጵያ ደብዛው የጠፋው ደጃዝማች: ራስ ቀኛዝማች ወዘተርፈ ማእርጎች ታሪካችን እስከሆነ ድረስ ወደፊት ህዝብ ያከበራቸውና ሀገርን በማዳንና በመጠበቅ በህዝብ የተከበሩ የተመረጡና ህዝብን በቅንነት ያገለገሉ ሁሉ ወደፊት እንደሚጠሩበት ተስፋችን ነውና ታሪካችንን ለማጥፋት የተነሱትን ወንበዴዎች ለመገርሰስ አንድነታችን እንዲጠናከር የእግዚአብሔር ቸርነት አይለየን::
Ergata! ሰዎችን ከመዘርጠጥ ይልቅ እግዚአብሔር ልቡና ይስጥዎት:: አስተዳደግዎስ እንዴት ነበር? ጋሼ እህትዬ በማለት ታላላቅዎን ሳይጠሩ ነው ያደጉት? ያፍሩበታል?
July 31st, 2009 at 7:32 am
unity dedb ahya son of a bitch bastard
August 3rd, 2009 at 6:45 am
rahel! Why do you insulting to me all the time? what is your problem? are you grown with the blessing words(ተባረኪ) or someone insulting you everytime, the words you are using-DEDEB, AHYA, bastard….
If someone identified who you are, I will take you to church for the Holywater(ጠበል). rahel! I will pray for your bad words to be polite and respected & proud to be an Ethiopian.
August 5th, 2009 at 1:34 am
unity i am not insulting you DEDEB,AHYA ,BASTARD is who you are. who i am is, since tigray makes ethiopia i am a real and proud TIGRAYAN/ ETHIOPIAWET moron. low life losser.
why i insulting you all the time? because, of your misguided, mistaken, and spreading jugement hatred through miss information and false accusation of tigrayan peopel which is rsulting you insult as simpl as that dedeb
August 5th, 2009 at 6:52 am
rahel! The main Ethiopian slogan is by now. Tigray should be independent, “until Weyane stoping brutality and Nationalist ideology” similar to your feeling as “TIGRAWI”.
The truth Ethiopian are feeling to be as an ETHIOPIAN, not their race.
You knew very well, If Tigray become indepndent; There is no surviving in all situations, in Military, Economy etc…. & Shabiya will do as they want to domoinate in everything.
August 6th, 2009 at 10:51 pm
unity i post an answer for your last massage they decided not to post it because of my opinion is not similar with you this teels me dishonest most hated , suspicious and paranoya people you are fuck you and each other. as for me i never take you seriously