Minerva McGonagall-/Dumbledore

[snow15145]

No: HPFGUIDX 115506


Geoff:
I seem to recall that most of the staff use his "Professor title".
Can you quote a specific instance of him /asking/ someone to call him
Albus?

Snow:
No! Not staff
but
Albus does appear to make light of his own title 
and the respect for it. Albus does demand for other professors, when 
he tells an inferior house elf (dobby) that he may call him a barmy 
old codger if he likes, what he does not demand for himself. (GOF The 
house-elf liberation front) Dumbledore demands respect for a 
colleague's title though he does not appear to demand the same 
respect for himself, why? Talk about self-confidence or is it self-
doubt? I guess it would depend on how Dumbledore perceives himself. 
Does Dumbledore feel worthy of a respected title or does he feel that 
he is nothing more than a barmy old codger? Just what has Dumbledore 
done, or thinks he has done, that he does not insist on respect for 
his many anointed positions? When I first read this statement from 
Dobby, I took it as a gesture from Dumbledore to make Dobby feel 
welcome enough but perceiving it from this angle, thank you Susan for 
the great post and its many attributes, puts a new light on how 
Dumbledore perceives himself.  

Geoff:
Speaking as a teacher who taught during the period in which this is
set, I do believe that it indicates familiarity.

In my situation, the Head would either call us by "Mr. So-and-so"
or "Miss So-and-so" if the relationship was no more than professional
or by our Christian name if we knew each other better but it was
quite normal to refer to the head as "Mr.......". Very few people
would use his first name and it would be considered impolite to use
his surname without the "Mr." unless there was a very close
friendship.

Snow:

I defiantly agree with you here, which is why I question Dumbledore's 
lack of self-respect statement to Dobby. I, personally, demand such 
respect from my children for their aunts or uncles. No matter how 
close a child is to their aunt or uncle they should always 
acknowledge that this person holds a title, which should be 
respected. This person is not Joe this is Uncle Joe because you 
should honor the person with acknowledgement of their relationship to 
you. It may be old school to demand that a child look up to a person 
merely because they are related but in doing so they have 
acknowledged that you are of importance and therefore they are. 
Dumbledore's admittance to Dobby that he may purposely disrespect him 
is quite questioning.  


Snow-who has very little time anymore for one of my favorite vices