What’s in a title?

I decided to join the Co-operative today. As you may know, this is a worldwide shared ownership group with a community spirit, which started in Rochdale, UK in 1844. They have all sorts of laudable principles, and if you become a Member, you are entitled to – amongst other things – a share of the profits.

The fact that they are co-operative sets them apart from most other businesses with which they compete. But in applying online to join, I discovered another difference which I can only describe as eccentric. The online form first asks for your name, address and contact details, as you might expect. There’s the familiar dropdown box where you can choose Mr, Mrs, or Ms. But hang on – there are a few more pre-nominal titles to pick from. In fact there are no less than sixty! Here’s the complete list:

Miss, Mr, Mrs, Ms, Admiral, Archbishop, Attorney General, Baron, Baroness, Bishop, Brigadier, Brother, Canon, Captain, Cardinal, Chief, Chief Warrant Officer, Colonel, Commander, Corporal_DESCR (sic), Councillor, Count, Countess, Dame, Dr, Duchess, Duke, Earl, Father, Flight Lieutenant, General, Group Captain, Honourable, Justice, Lady, Laird, Lieutenant, Lieutenant Colonel, Lieutenant Commander, Lord, Madam, Major, Master Sergeant, Monseigneur, Pastor, Prebendary, Private, Professor, Rabbi, Reverend, Right Honourable, Sergeant, Sir, Sister, Squadron Leader, Staff Sergeant, Very Reverand (sic), Viscount, Viscountess, Warrant Officer, Wing Commander

Next time I meet a Prebendary or (even less likely, I suspect) a Corporal_DESCR I can’t wait to ask them how they cope with ordinary dropdowns which have only Mr, Mrs, Miss and Ms from which to choose.