# What's a something-in-ordinary?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-something-in-ordinary/765732>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [September 12, 2016, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-something-in-ordinary/765732 "2016-09-12T02:04:35Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\
**Post date:** [September 12, 2016, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-something-in-ordinary/765732/1 "2016-09-12T02:04:35Z")

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Just watched “Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell” and at one point Strange claimed to be the British Army’s “magician-in-ordinary.” Now obviously that’s a fictional title, but it seemed like it was supposed to evoke something real.

It’s not easy to do a search on “-in-ordinary,” but I did discover that there is an office called “chaplain-in-ordinary,” but I can’t seem to find something that explains what the “-in-ordinary” part actually means.

So, any ideas? What is the meaning of the “-in-ordinary” part of a title that takes the form “[job, position, or office]-in-ordinary”?

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**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\
**Post date:** [September 12, 2016, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-something-in-ordinary/765732/2 "2016-09-12T02:17:52Z")

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Lazy answer, but Wikipedia actually has a [pretty good write-up](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_ordinary).

In particular:  
\*In relation particularly to the staff of the British Royal Household, and more generally to those employed by the Crown, it is used as a suffix showing that the appointment is to the regular staff, for example a priest or chaplain-in-ordinary, or a physician-in-ordinary, being a cleric or doctor in regular attendance. The usage goes back to the 17th century. \*

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**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\
**Post date:** [September 15, 2016, 10:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-something-in-ordinary/765732/3 "2016-09-15T10:00:44Z")

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Basically, what it means is that the person is appointed to be in regular physical attendance, not just associated - IRL, physicians-, painters-, chaplains-in-ordinary were expected to be part of the court, not just called on when their services were explicitly needed.

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**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\
**Post date:** [September 15, 2016, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-something-in-ordinary/765732/4 "2016-09-15T12:15:31Z")

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Gotcha. Cool, thanks’