Re: Is the list dead?

Young children around here
(slightly-more-southern-but-still-north-of-Atlanta Georgia) tend to
address all unrelated adults as "Mr/s Firstname".  It's not just a
school thing.  E.g. My 4yo's best friend calls me "Mr. Mark.".
Particularly close friends of the family may get an "Uncle" or "Aunt"
instead, despite the lack of corresponding family realtion.

At work, I address all my colleagues as Firstname, including my direct
supervisor, except when being exaggeratedly deferential for humorous
effect.  I do however frequently refer to those same people as "Mr/s
Surname" when talking about them to someone else (whether in their
presence or not).  For myself, in introductions etc, am always "Mark
Reed", which is also how I answer the phone.

Oh, and while not relevant to the original question, the form of "M*s"
I use for women is pretty much universally "Ms.", with a few
eceptions:

First, with a first name, the title is usually "Miss", irrespective of
marital status; the same friend who calls me "Mr. Mark" calls my wife
"Miss Jody".  But some people routinely use "Ms." there, or at least
pronounce "Miss" as /mIz/.

Second, some women of the older generation are offended by "Ms," so I
avoid using it to refer to them (or to someone else in their
presence.)

Finally. I use "Mrs." when talking to a man about his wife, e.g. "Good
morning Mr. Surname! How is Mrs. Surname?", even though I routinely
address both members of the couple by first name. (When formulating
the corresponding greeting to the distaff member, I revert to "Ms.",
however:  "Good morning, Ms. Surname.  How is Mr. Surname?")



On 4/24/08, Jim Henry <jimhenry1973@...> wrote:
> On Thu, Apr 24, 2008 at 3:35 AM, Tristan McLeay <conlang@...>
> wrote:
>
> >  > (b) In other English-speaking countries, when would you address someone
> >  > as "Mr/s Surname"?
>
> Around here (north Georgia):
>
> 1. In elementary to middle school, students address teachers as
> Mr/s Surname, except in some places where Mr/s Firstname is
> a common variant.  Teachers address students as Firstname.
>
> 2. In college, students address professors as Dr/Professor/Mr/s Surname,
> and professors address students as Mr/s Surname.
>
> 3. In hospitals, patients adress doctors as Dr Surname, but nurses,
> respiratory therapists, etc., as Firstname; medical staff address patients
> as Mr/s Surname unless they've known them for a long time.
> In children's hospitals patients are addressed as Firstname.
>
> 4. At a Baptist church, members address each other usually as
> Firstname, even if they haven't known each other for long, and
> the pastor, associate pastors, and sometimes deacons as
> Brother Firstname; sometimes respected laypeople are also
> addressed as Brother/Sister Firstname.  Unless the pastor
> has a doctorate, then it's seems to be Dr. Surname.
>
> 5. At a Catholic church, parishioners address each other as
> Firstname and the priests as Father Firstname or Father Surname
> depending on their preference.  We have one priest who's
> entitled to be addressed as "Monsignor Surname" but prefers
> "Father Firstname".
>
> 6. In my family, elder family members address younger ones as
> Firstname, and younger ones address older ones as Uncle/Aunt
> Firstname.   (I mean, of older and younger generations, not simply
> older and younger in age.)  Cousins usually address each other
> simply as Firstname, but ones much younger than the addresse
> may use Cousin Firstname.  That leaves out direct vertical relationships.
>
> 7. At work (a small company with no new hires in this office for a long
> time) we address each other as Firstname.
>
> 8. Staff in a retail store, restaurant, repair shop, etc., will, if they
> know your kname, address you as Mr/s Surname.
>
>
> >  (c) How do you introduce yourself? I would normally introduce myself as
> >  just "Tristan"; my surname is only relevant for filling in forms. In
>
> My first name is fairly common, so I almost always introduce myself
> as "Jim Henry", unless I'm dealing with some bureaucrat who's fixing
> to look me up in a database, in which case it's "James Henry"
> or something even fuller.
>
> --
> Jim Henry
> http://www.pobox.com/~jimhenry
>
--
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Mark J. Reed <markjreed@...>

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