Joseph: I agree with you. I personally don’t see the problem with saying R Joseph B Soloveitchik or R JB Soloveitchik, as long as everything is said in a way respectful of him. I was mentioning one person’s objection, but like you said I don’t think it is an actual issue. (Quoting things I said back at me won’t somehow prove me wrong about anything.)
lilmod: Definitely an honest mistake for many, I’m sure. Until high school I had no idea who he was, and if someone’s only exposure to him was by people referring to him as JB, then it makes sense. It’s just a shame that that’s the case to begin with. I definitely wouldn’t blame anyone for an inadvertent mistake.
Softwords: Though I’m in an environment where the vast majority of people say “the Rav” to refer to R Soloveitchik and it is very obvious that this is who they mean, I just say R Soloveitchik, because I know how confusing it is when people say “the Rav” (until very recently, I’d’ve had no idea who these people were referring to, to be honest) and it’s honestly not as instinctive to me as it is to them. I wouldn’t go so far as to say it can’t be used, just that it is confusing. And for many of those who say “the Rav,” they are indeed referring to someone who for them is their Rosh Yeshiva- after all, he granted an incredible number of semicha certifications and was a rosh yeshiva of many of those who today call him the Rav. Also, there are definitely other ways to distinguish the rabbanim of the Brisker dynasty- especially as the Israeli Briskers are almost never called Rav Soloveitchik (they’re called Reb Avrohom Yehoshua or R Dovid or the Griz or the Brisker Rav [which can be confusing itself to people who aren’t in the know] or R Chaim Brisker- we’ve worked a lot of this out already without resorting to names that have become seen as derogatory).
Sparkly: Sounds good- what are you trying to say?