# Anyone else under the age of 95 refer to their other as Mr./Mrs. \_\_\_\_\_? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 21, 2010, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-under-the-age-of-95-refer-to-their-other-as-mr-mrs-_____/557932 "2010-10-21T20:26:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![johnspartan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a183cd/32.png) [@johnspartan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnspartan)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2010, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-under-the-age-of-95-refer-to-their-other-as-mr-mrs-_____/557932/1 "2010-10-21T20:26:57Z")
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? ---
**Author:** ![Silver\_Tyger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/fbc32d/32.png) [@Silver\_Tyger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Tyger)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2010, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-under-the-age-of-95-refer-to-their-other-as-mr-mrs-_____/557932/2 "2010-10-21T20:41:35Z")
My mom calls my dad Mr. Tyger, but they got married back in the 70s when everybody was Mr. / Miss / Mrs. ---
**Author:** ![EmAnJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d2c977/32.png) [@EmAnJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmAnJ)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2010, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-under-the-age-of-95-refer-to-their-other-as-mr-mrs-_____/557932/3 "2010-10-21T20:44:25Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2010, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-under-the-age-of-95-refer-to-their-other-as-mr-mrs-_____/557932/4 "2010-10-21T20:46:41Z")
> [@Silver Tyger Girl](#): > > My mom calls my dad Mr. Tyger, but they got married back in the 70s when everybody was Mr. / Miss / Mrs. Everybody was Mr./Mrs./Miss then? My parents got married in 1970 and they have never done this. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2010, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-under-the-age-of-95-refer-to-their-other-as-mr-mrs-_____/557932/5 "2010-10-21T20:56:17Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2010, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-under-the-age-of-95-refer-to-their-other-as-mr-mrs-_____/557932/6 "2010-10-21T21:06:45Z")
My mother occasionally calls _me_ “Mr \_\_\_\_\_”. It’s usually a very bad thing when she does this. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2010, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-under-the-age-of-95-refer-to-their-other-as-mr-mrs-_____/557932/7 "2010-10-21T21:15:14Z")
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?” ---
**Author:** ![pabstist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e99b99/32.png) [@pabstist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pabstist)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2010, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-under-the-age-of-95-refer-to-their-other-as-mr-mrs-_____/557932/8 "2010-10-22T03:22:40Z")
I always/only do that at work, since my wife and I both work at the same high school. And it still feels weird. ---
**Author:** ![Pai325](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Pai325](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pai325)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2010, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-under-the-age-of-95-refer-to-their-other-as-mr-mrs-_____/557932/9 "2010-10-22T03:27:52Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Maeglin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8baadc/32.png) [@Maeglin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maeglin)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2010, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-under-the-age-of-95-refer-to-their-other-as-mr-mrs-_____/557932/10 "2010-10-22T03:43:39Z")
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. She’s somewhat less enthusiastic about this idea. ---
**Author:** ![Pai325](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Pai325](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pai325)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2010, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-under-the-age-of-95-refer-to-their-other-as-mr-mrs-_____/557932/11 "2010-10-22T05:28:22Z")
> [@Maeglin](#): > > 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. > > She’s somewhat less enthusiastic about this idea. Will you call her Tenille? ---
**Author:** ![EvilTOJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee59a6/32.png) [@EvilTOJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EvilTOJ)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2010, 9:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-under-the-age-of-95-refer-to-their-other-as-mr-mrs-_____/557932/12 "2010-10-22T09:20:46Z")
No, his name should be Ann Tenille. You know, Captain Ann Tenille. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2010, 10:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-under-the-age-of-95-refer-to-their-other-as-mr-mrs-_____/557932/13 "2010-10-22T10:23:53Z")
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). ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2010, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-under-the-age-of-95-refer-to-their-other-as-mr-mrs-_____/557932/14 "2010-10-22T14:01:56Z")
Only on this board. In real life, I call Mr. Neville by his first name, or I call him honey. ---
**Author:** ![brainstall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/35a633/32.png) [@brainstall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brainstall)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2010, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-under-the-age-of-95-refer-to-their-other-as-mr-mrs-_____/557932/15 "2010-10-22T14:10:15Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Gagundathar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2010, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-under-the-age-of-95-refer-to-their-other-as-mr-mrs-_____/557932/16 "2010-10-22T14:12:48Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2010, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-under-the-age-of-95-refer-to-their-other-as-mr-mrs-_____/557932/17 "2010-10-22T14:39:15Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2010, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-under-the-age-of-95-refer-to-their-other-as-mr-mrs-_____/557932/18 "2010-10-22T15:08:00Z")
My wife and I do, but we live in a dimensionally warped world that’s Bath, England in 1811, but with internet and shit. ---
**Author:** ![MN\_Maenad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e95f7d/32.png) [@MN\_Maenad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MN_Maenad)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2010, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-under-the-age-of-95-refer-to-their-other-as-mr-mrs-_____/557932/19 "2010-10-22T15:20:03Z")
> [@johnspartan](#): > > 1 is I want her to get used to going by the new name. :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. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2010, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-under-the-age-of-95-refer-to-their-other-as-mr-mrs-_____/557932/20 "2010-10-22T15:41:57Z")
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. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-under-the-age-of-95-refer-to-their-other-as-mr-mrs-_____/557932.md?page=2)