--- Scott Schultz <scott at cjhunter.com> wrote: > > Why couldn't there be empty titles? > > When Paul McCartney was knighted he didn't receive a bunch of > > farmers too, > > did he? ;) > > There probably are some titles that are purley honorific. Vlad's is not. > He's the Count of (what I assume to be) a moderately sized county. One > small > enough that the local town government is able to run things and the post > of > Count is more of a royal sinecure than an actual managerial job. On the other hand, I suspect his baronetcy is "empty", that is, it comes with no responsbilities or privileges. The title of "Baronet Taltos" was surely invented when Vlad's father bought in. > Interestingly, you'd think that if there were "empty" titles that the > Jhereg > would be selling them left, right, and center. If Vlad's case is > typical, > the Jhereg titles are bona-fide, lending some weight to the idea that > there > really aren't any "empty" titles. However, I strongly suspect that members of all the noble houses have titles that are just as noble as Jhereg titles. (Slight evidence: when Vlad is pretending to be a Chreotha in _Orca_, the Phoenix Guards call him "my lord"--till they stop being polite.) That leaves the Teckla, and about the only way a Teckla could be worse off is to have a Jhereg title and single himself out for additional prejudice. Just to weigh in, I think all Dzur are Dzurlords and the same for Dragons and Hawks, and I seem to recall reading "Tiassalord" somewhere--if so, them too. Why do people sometimes use "-lord" and sometimes not? I sometimes say "black" and sometimes "African American" (or other terms if the person isn't American); I sometimes say "Indian", sometimes "American Indian", and sometimes "Native American". Depends on context and the tone I'm after. However, I have no idea why no one has yet mentioned a Tsalmothlord, Issolalord, Iorichlord, or whatever. And I think that when Paresh mentions the real aristocracy, he means the people who act like the traditional image of aristocrats--they live off rents because they're above work or trade. I don't think there's any connection between this and "lord" or one's title. Except the Lyorn, since somewhere somebody says that most Lyorn are "Sir Soandso" because they don't have fiefs, but they're the only house pedantic enough to bother with this distinction. Jerry Friedman __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? New and Improved Yahoo! Mail - 100MB free storage! http://promotions.yahoo.com/new_mail