So, I’ve been married about 18 months now, and am in my early 30s.
Not always, but certainly when I call home after work and such, I nearly always start with “Hello Mrs. Spartan” (or, rather, the IRL equivalent).
I do this for a couple of reasons. 1 is I want her to get used to going by the new name. 2 is I still just dig having a new “Mrs. Spartan” be wandering about, and have it be my significant other.
1st marriage for both of us, she had no issue with changing name after wedding.
Does it sound odd to do that, though? Seems a fairly old man-ish thing to do. Does anyone else (fairly) regularly call their own significant other “Mrs. Smith” etc?
I think that’s cute, actually. My husband does the same once in a while (we’ve been married for 15 months). I think he does it because he’s kind of proud.
I call him by his last name if I’m being mock serious, but that’s about it. I usually just call him by my nickname for him.
My father is over 95, and I’ve never heard him refer to my mother as “Mrs …” – just by her first name. Similarly, I just refer to my wife by her first name.
Do you also do Mother and Father? I’ve heard older couples do that, on occasion. I don’t mean in talking to your child, as in, “Tell Mother/Mom/Mommy to do…” I mean actually addressing each other. Like “Pass the potatoes, please, Mother” or “How was your day, Father?”
No to both questions - addressing my husband as Mr. Or addressing him as Father. My parents didn’t do them, either. I was marries in 1972 and my parents in 1949.
I keep trying to get my wife to refer to me as “The Captain.” Of course, I’m not actually in the military nor do I have much of anything to do with ships.
My brother will sometimes address his wife as either “Mrs. [herlastname]” (which triggers a :dubious: from her, and in turn a from him… it’s a sort of in-joke with them) or “Dr. [herlastname]”, which conveys that she’s needed in a profesional(ish) capacity.
She adresses him as “Mr. [hislastname]” when she’s considering going nuclear, and as Señor Capataz, which more or less translates to “Master Foreman”, when she needs his honey-do services (he’s a construction foreman).
I met a couple - thirtyish, who referred to each other as Husband and Wife. Not my husband, just Husband. As in “Husband likes to eat mashed potatoes.” It was weird.
A few times a week, when I am calling in to check on my dear bride, I will greet her with “Hello, Mrs. Inexplicable” and she will reply, “Hello, Dr. Inexplicable”.
I started doing that way back when we were first married for much the same reasons elucidated up-thread – to remind her that she had a new last name, and because it was so wonderful to be married.
It still is.
My wife calls me Mr. Rhymer when she’s feeling playful or remarkably happy, or just Rhymer otherwise. I don’t recall the last time she used my first name, as neither of us likes the sound of it.
:dubious: I gotta admit - this gets my back up. From my view, it sounds condescending. But then, I’m one of those horrible witches who kept her birth name when she got married, so you can dismiss me as you choose.
I only call DH by his last name (no Mr.) if we’re in “friend mode” and I’m giving him a hard time. Usually when we’re with a group of friends. Otherwise it’s just his first name or pet name (when we’re alone). My parents (married in 1963) call each other by their first names. Dad refers to Mom as “Mother” as a gesture of respect when he’s talking to us kids about her.
Other than as a joke / term of endearment I can’t imagine anyone outside of Victorian England doing this. Well, except Carol Brady as channeled by Shelley Long.
from him… it’s a sort of in-joke with them) or “Dr. [herlastname]”, which conveys that she’s needed in a profesional(ish) capacity.