# Sir Gates! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 2, 2005, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sir-gates/292626 "2005-03-02T18:19:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2005, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sir-gates/292626/1 "2005-03-02T18:19:05Z")
Bill Gates has been [Knighted](http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=638&e=1&u=/nm/20050302/en_nm/people_gates_dc). :eek: Wow. Just plain wow. Used to be you had to kill a few heretics or at least joust with somebody for a lady’s honour. The standards are really dropping… I’ve got a perfect driving record for 25 years now. Not a single traffic accident. Perhaps I’ll apply. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2005, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sir-gates/292626/2 "2005-03-02T22:00:32Z")
I’m a bit surprised this thread got no replies until now. I find it interesting that Bill is a Knight. I don’t know much about Bill (much more than other people tend to know about well known people) but He does contribute to charity doesn’t he? And he’s made a little bit of a slight possible teeny weeny contribution to business too. ---
**Author:** ![harmless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/2acd7d/32.png) [@harmless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/harmless)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2005, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sir-gates/292626/3 "2005-03-02T22:05:16Z")
I told my husband after Charles Barkley got knighted that the big Q had gone a bit daffy and would knight just about anyone. :smack: I’m up for mine soon. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2005, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sir-gates/292626/4 "2005-03-02T22:22:46Z")
Will Gates be referred to as Sir William when he’s in England? The article seems to be saying no. But Tom Clancy gave his fictional character Jack Ryan a knighthood and then had British characters all calling him Sir John. Was this an error? ---
**Author:** ![garius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e19b73/32.png) [@garius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garius)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2005, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sir-gates/292626/5 "2005-03-02T22:36:31Z")
Yes it was. If he ain’t British, he can’t be addressed as “Sir” - he just gets to put some initials after his name. ---
**Author:** ![nocturnal\_tick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/3d9bf3/32.png) [@nocturnal\_tick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nocturnal_tick)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2005, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sir-gates/292626/6 "2005-03-02T22:49:17Z")
It just all part of Bill’s plan to take over the world. Now if you will excuse me, someone appears to be knocking on my door. A bit late for visitors. Hello gentlemen… _thud_ ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2005, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sir-gates/292626/7 "2005-03-02T22:54:53Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > I’ve got a perfect driving record for 25 years now. Not a single traffic accident. Perhaps I’ll apply. I think you’re a little off the mark: > [@](#): > > The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation…has so far committed $4.9 billion to good causes [http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory?id=544271](http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory?id=544271) ---
**Author:** ![MacTech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MacTech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacTech)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2005, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sir-gates/292626/8 "2005-03-02T23:01:05Z")
looks like the new standard for Knighthood is “must have a pulse”, the Queen’s definitely going daft if she knighted that evil little troll :rolleyes: “sir” gate$, knight of the unstable bloatware empire… :rolleyes: where’s the Knights who Say Nee when you need them… ---
**Author:** ![Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2005, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sir-gates/292626/9 "2005-03-02T23:11:15Z")
He has contributed a lot of money to Charity, maybe it’s tax writeoff mostly but none the less it is a lot of money. ---
**Author:** ![joazito](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7feea3/32.png) [@joazito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joazito)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2005, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sir-gates/292626/10 "2005-03-03T00:19:15Z")
I’ve read in an article that most of the donations were in software 🙂 maybe just a myth, but I’d imagine that shouldn’t count as the real thing… ---
**Author:** ![Arwin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/51bf81/32.png) [@Arwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arwin)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2005, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sir-gates/292626/11 "2005-03-03T08:00:21Z")
> [@MacTech](#): > > looks like the new standard for Knighthood is “must have a pulse”, the Queen’s definitely going daft if she knighted that evil little troll :rolleyes: > > “sir” gate$, knight of the unstable bloatware empire… :rolleyes: > > where’s the Knights who Say Nee when you need them… It’s ‘Ni’, and if anything warrants a knighthood it’s donating 5 billion to charity - compared to being knighted for being a half-decent actor or whatever, I say it holds up comparatively well. However, you could argue that Linus Torvald (if I remember his name correctly) deserves one equally for giving the world billions worth of software for free. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2005, 8:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sir-gates/292626/12 "2005-03-03T08:26:19Z")
> [@joazito](#): > > I’ve read in an article that most of the donations were in software 🙂 maybe just a myth, but I’d imagine that shouldn’t count as the real thing… Interesting - certainly [some of their big grants](http://www.gatesfoundation.org/GlobalHealth/Grants/default.htm) appear to be in the form of services, support etc. But I can’t see that they all are. (And the foundation has an endowment of $28bn, which I can’t imagine can be in the form of intangable assets.) ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2005, 9:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sir-gates/292626/13 "2005-03-03T09:05:23Z")
IIRC the Bill and Melida Gates foundation is the largest single private charity ever established (even in constant dollars compared with the Carnegie’s and Rockefellers of the world). The foundation is separate from Microsoft. So when it says $5 billion, it means $5 billion. Some of the grants may be in the form of services, but the foundation pays the money for those services. I think it’s pretty dang amazing. ---
**Author:** ![MacTech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MacTech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacTech)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2005, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sir-gates/292626/14 "2005-03-03T17:37:32Z")
> [@Arwin](#): > > It’s ‘Ni’, and if anything warrants a knighthood it’s donating 5 billion to charity - compared to being knighted for being a half-decent actor or whatever, I say it holds up comparatively well. the cynic in me tells me he’s just doing it to get good press, IMO the troll doesn’t do anything without an ulterior motive, he’s on my extremely short list of people i absolutely loathe even if he did give 5B to charity “no strings attached” (which i highly doubt) wouldn’t it be cancelled out by the fact that he inflicted windows on the computer world, an act of pure unmitigated evil? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2005, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sir-gates/292626/15 "2005-03-03T17:50:52Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > Used to be you had to kill a few heretics or at least joust with somebody for a lady’s honour. The standards are really dropping… The honours system has been used for all sorts of purposes. If you are a long-serving member of the UK Parliament, and support your party leadership obediently, you will get an honour. If you make large donations to political parties, you will get an honour. There are people who are worthy of honours (at least Bill Gates was for charitable donations), but they are swamped by the ‘back-handers’. “Lloyd George had used his powers as Prime Minister to accumulate a personal fund, by “selling” honours, the prices ranging from £10,000 for a knighthood to £40,000 or more for a peerage.” [http://www.ejakeman.freeserve.co.uk/history/lloyd.html](http://www.ejakeman.freeserve.co.uk/history/lloyd.html) ---
**Author:** ![WolfpackJeep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpackjeep/32/2921_2.png) [@WolfpackJeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WolfpackJeep)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2005, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sir-gates/292626/16 "2005-03-03T21:41:42Z")
> [@MacTech](#): > > the cynic in me tells me he’s just doing it to get good press, IMO the troll doesn’t do anything without an ulterior motive, he’s on my extremely short list of people i absolutely loathe You’re saying he _asked_ for knighthood? Cite, please.