cinepro wrote:It started with "Joseph F. Smith", so he wouldn't be confused with the other Joseph Smith. Heber Grant decided to continue the tradition, and the rest is history.
So once one had an initial, they all wanted one.
Do any of the orthodox members find it disrespectful to leave off the initial for the General Authorities? Be honest, please....
Perhaps it started with President Joseph F. Smith. He obviously couldn't go by Joseph Smith. If I am not mistaken, all the presidents of the church have gone with middle initials since that time excluding Joseph Fielding Smith and George Albert Smith (George A.) for obvious reasons. I think it must have carried over to GA types for the sake of prestige.
Yong Q. Xi
I just noticed Cinepro's post. Sorry for the duplicate information.
cinepro wrote:It started with "Joseph F. Smith", so he wouldn't be confused with the other Joseph Smith. Heber Grant decided to continue the tradition, and the rest is history.
So once one had an initial, they all wanted one.
Do any of the orthodox members find it disrespectful to leave off the initial for the General Authorities? Be honest, please....
I think I seem to remember being corrected once--I do know I was chastised to referring to "Mr. Hinckley" rather than "President Hinckley" once--and it wasn't an all Mormon setting! It is a little eerie to hear when someone doesn't use the initial--I was like "what?" when I heard someone on the national news say "Governor Romney will be in Utah today for the funeral of President Gordon Hinckley of the LDS church."
cinepro wrote:It's fun to refer to them by their common names ("Tom Monson" or "Bruce McConkie") in Church, because it makes it sound like you know them personally, and no one will doubt what you say.
It's also fun to mix up their names when discussing them in church (Thomas S. Packer, Dallan H. Eyring, L. Tom Ballard, Quentin A. Bednar, etc.) while maintaining a straight face.