Is it appropriate to address an audience as „illuster“

Question

Consider this sentence in the beginning of a speech:

Es ist mir eine ungewohnte Ehre vor solch illustrem Publikum zu sprechen.

Assuming the audience is indeed distinguished, would this be an appropriate address, or could it be understood to be toung-in-cheek?

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Oct 29 '16 at 21:00

2

Given your assumption, I guess the address is fine.

You would normally use this for example as a scientist in front of politicians, that is, if your talking in front of people that are not your trade. Otherwise, this might be misplaced.

The expression as such is kind of old-fashioned and would only be used under extremely formal circumstances.

answered Oct 29 '16 at 21:00

tofro

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“You would normally use this for example as a scientist in front of politicians, that is, if your talking in front of people that are not your trade” spot on :-) – Joachim Breitner Oct 30 '16 at 14:29

Is it appropriate to address an audience as „illuster“

1 Answers1