Reply To: Is “sir” a British thing

UJM: The yekkeshe obsession with titles can go from the silly to the absurd. In the German system it is not uncommon to list all honorifics, so something like Prof Dr. Dr. Dr. Deutchkopf would be someone with a single professorship and 3 doctorates. Sometimes you would see that as Prof DDDr. Deutchkopf. If the herr honorable Dr.Dr.DRDeutckopf got a fourth doctorate, I imagine the honorific would change to Prof. Dr. mult. Deutchkopf.