I call my first ex-wife Mrs don’t ask. We were divorced 33 years ago. Mind you she did keep the don’t ask family name. It is handy when we turn up at a hotel at different times, from different places in separate cars. We are still very close friends.
Any zombies or sea monsters in the picture?
No Mister or Mrs. Knig here. Mr. and Mrs. Knig are in their 70s and live in Florida.
I refer to my friends’ wives as “Mrs. Lastname” sometimes, just to throw them off because I can’t imagine any of them thinking of their wives that way.
Actually I’m not entirely sure what year they got married, but they both were in college. It had to be between 1965 and 1977.
My parents did that. Well, my father would never address my mother as anything when speaking to her directly (he’d just start speaking, e.g., “Pass the potatoes, please.”) but if he had to call her from another room, he’d call out “Mamma!” My mom always called my father “Papa” and would also correct herself when speaking to us about him, e.g., “I meant to tell [father’s first name], I mean Papa, to buy milk.” She thought it was more respectful that way, lest we follow her example and call him by his first name, too.
I’ve never heard anyone do this, and I know people all the way into their 90s. It might be cute shortly after the wedding, but when the honeymoon’s over it just sounds stupid.
Ever since Ms came into widespread usage I have referred to my wife as “Ms [birthname]”.
My mother calls my father Mr. So and So. They married in 1968 when she was 24. I always referred to the old man as “Hey, make me dinner.”
I do not encourage familiarity within my family circle. My own dear wife would not dream of speaking to myself directly any more than my children would — any matter, urgent or otherwise, may always be referred through a footman or maid. Should she need to speak of me, I understand her term is 'The master’.
I have yet to call her anything but ‘Madam’, whether during family prayers or in the throes of coitus.
One of the great advantages of being married I’m looking forward to will be the ability to get his attention by grouchily bellowing “Husbaaaaaaaand.”