Why we say “Mr. President” rather than “President Biden”

Mister Roberts movie poster showing four navy officers on a shipIt’s the president of the US and instead of using his main title of ‘President’ and calling him “President Biden,” we’re supposed to say, “Mr. President”. We are directed to do this because everyone needs to be referred to as Mister. Mister is a title in the Navy and we must make it explicitly clear that everyone is operating in a military or maritime capacity.

It is entirely appropriate to say Mr. President because the president of the U.S. (not U.S.A) is acting in a military or maritime capacity. But I’m not, so don’t use mister with my family name. Just use my given name (first name) and I’ll be sure to answer.

Mr. President is actually using two titles, which is absurd. But they can’t have us call him Mr. Biden and we must use the mister title because it just may be more important than the title of president.

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