# Do you, or any adults you know, expect to be addressed as "Mr." or "Mrs." by other adults? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 15, 2025, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-or-any-adults-you-know-expect-to-be-addressed-as-mr-or-mrs-by-other-adults/1024882 "2025-11-15T20:33:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 48
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2025, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-or-any-adults-you-know-expect-to-be-addressed-as-mr-or-mrs-by-other-adults/1024882/48 "2025-11-16T13:36:14Z")
> [@Dr.Drake](#): > > I think most people either don’t care or remember the rule that professional titles are not to be used socially (outside of addressing envelopes), but every now and again someone gets confused, or is just a jerk. I agree w this, but … We had quite a kerfuffle here a few years ago about professional titles used or not used in social settings. The precipitating event was that Pres Biden’s wife Jill has a PhD and worked in academia. At some point, shortly after he won election, the RW propaganda-sphere decided to refer to her as Ms. or Mrs.; never as Dr. Which ignited a lot of anger, along various axes of right / left, highbrow / lowbrow, sexist / not sexist, formal / informal, and traditional / not traditional. ETA: Found it. Not quite 300 posts of fussing: > [@Oh goodie. Now we have the political sexist take on who gets to be called "Dr"](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-goodie-now-we-have-the-political-sexist-take-on-who-gets-to-be-called-dr/927973): > > Recent column in the Wall Street Journal begins: Apparently the columnist, Joseph Epstein, B.A., thinks that Dr Biden shouldn’t be using her doctorate as a form of address. We had that discussion of non-medical doctorates here last year, of course, but as a question of academic nomenclature, without referring to female holders of doctorates as “kiddo”, “fraudulent” and “comic”: But, what else should one expect from the Wall Street Journal, that bastion of enlightened thought? --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-or-any-adults-you-know-expect-to-be-addressed-as-mr-or-mrs-by-other-adults/1024882)._