Why always POTUS?

[Helen]

Helen, never underestimate the power of forum-goers to be needlessly pedantic. I have seen people criticize other for assuming people will understand they are speaking about an American President. It's one of the reasons I often use the -OTUS names (POTUS, COTUS, SCOTUS, FLOTUS [first lady], VPOTUS, et al.)

Well, I think you have hit on one of the eternal truths here. If not the only one Pedantry is indeed rife. But somehow it still doesn't seem to answer my question - but perhaps that is because of me. Obama is, whether you like him or not, one of the most famous people in the world, and somehow the following doesn't ring quite true for me:
"Did you hear what Obama said on TV last night?"
"Obama, Obama who? Kevin Obama, who runs the corner shop?"
"No, the POTUS!"
"Oh, the POTUS, now I see!"
And there are indeed other people mentioned here often enough without any explanatory titles, far less famous than this POTUS guy.

Well, I guess I will just have to remain puzzled. But not to worry, I've been puzzled for most of my life, so I'm used to it.

Or perhaps I'll just go with Earthborn's explanation

 

[XBoxWarrior]

I don't find the term derogatory in any sense, and I'm a freakin' Obama supporter...

XM radio started a show in '08 called "POTUS '08", it was the only non-commercial talk radio show on satellite radio, and was somewhat neutral.

http://www.xmradio.com/potus

POTUS, imho is not a negative term, just one for the texter generation.

 

[Helen]

You may well be right, thanks! But why the need to identify him, do you think?

 

[Cynic]

It's not to identify them, it's to re-enforce their authority. Most of the time I've seen it used, it comes off as a little insecure.

 

[I Ratant]

PotUS
President of the United States.
Which is easier to type and conveys the exact same information?

 

[Cicero]

So, you have yet to provide an example of someone using "President of the United States" as a title, i.e. "President of the United States Obama". (Note the lack of a comma.)

"Former President of the United States Ronald Reagan"

http://vilnius.usembassy.gov/06-08b-04.html

If only the U.S. Embassy had checked with you first you could have supplied them with a set of commas. Somebody should tie you to Emily Post. You do lack a certain comma sense.

Now, I Know nothing is official unless your favorite source, the wki, confirms it.


"President of the United States Richard Nixon"

http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/1973

 

[Cicero]

So, you have yet to provide an example of someone using "President of the United States" as a title, i.e. "President of the United States Obama". (Note the lack of a comma.)

"President of the United States Franklin D. Roosevelt"

http://www.trivia-library.com/a/pre...-physical-description-and-characteristics.htm

 

[elbe]

Now, I Know nothing is official unless your favorite source, the wki, confirms it.


"President of the United States Richard Nixon"

http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/1973

I love simple.wikipedia, where they dumb down topics for people who aren't good at english, it produces some unintentionally funny articles - at least in my opinion.

However, I don't think using it as a grammatical example is very helpful.

 

[Upchurch]

Fair enough. You were able to find a few examples, most of which were just other people who don't know any better. I'll concede the point that you aren't the only one using it incorrectly.

At the very least, you were able to grasp the concept of a title.