# How does one address a 'Sir'? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 21, 2009, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-one-address-a-sir/514660 "2009-10-21T21:09:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2009, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-one-address-a-sir/514660/81 "2009-10-23T15:04:37Z")
> [@Candyman74](#): > > And what if he considered your name absurd or archaic and decided to choose what to call you. “Shorty”, perhaps? “Bob”? “Teabag”? But we’re not talking about names, are we? We’re talking about titles. I have no problem in using his name but I’ll be damned if I’m going to attach the handle to it when I speak to him. Perhaps he’d like me to tug my forelock as I speak too. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2009, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-one-address-a-sir/514660/82 "2009-10-23T15:16:21Z")
> [@The\_Seventh\_Deadly\_Finn](#): > > Having to say “yessir” to Dad is not universal practice in the US, btw, although it’s not uncommon. My parents never got on this particular power trip, thank God, though lots of the kids from the nearby Air Force base had to do this. > > Whenever I see people making their kids say “yes, sir,” or “yes, ma’am,” I think, “Wow, what an asshole.” But that’s just me. Maybe I should move to Australia. My wife’s family is Southern and non-military, and they do this. Not all the time; most of the time they’re Mom and Dad, and “yes, sir,” or “yes, ma’am,” is just kind of a respectful emphasis. Underlying it, I think, is a notion that the child should be as courteous to people within the home as he or she would be expected to be to others, and occasionally that calls for sir or ma’am. FWIW, they’re as loving and close a family as ever I’ve seen. Also, let’s remember that Mom and Dad are themselves titles. Most parents don’t raise their children to address them by their first names. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2009, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-one-address-a-sir/514660/83 "2009-10-23T15:27:07Z")
The google ad on page 2 is offering to sell me a lordship, barony or knighthood. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2009, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-one-address-a-sir/514660/84 "2009-10-23T15:43:37Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > The google ad on page 2 is offering to sell me a lordship, barony or knighthood. :dubious: You could then be “Really Not All That Knight.” ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2009, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-one-address-a-sir/514660/85 "2009-10-23T15:46:59Z")
**Sir Really** to my friends. ---
**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 23, 2009, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-one-address-a-sir/514660/86 "2009-10-23T15:53:46Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > **Sir Really** to my friends. And **Not All That Bright** to your enemies? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Candyman74](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Candyman74](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Candyman74)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2009, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-one-address-a-sir/514660/87 "2009-10-23T19:25:40Z")
> [@aldiboronti](#): > > But we’re not talking about names, are we? We’re talking about titles. I have no problem in using his name but I’ll be damned if I’m going to attach > the handle to it when I speak to him. Perhaps he’d like me to tug my forelock as I speak too. OK then. He comes from a culture which doesn’t “recognise” the title “Mr.” and insists on calling you “Miss”. He’s then doing exactly what you’re doing: meeting someone from a culture with a different range of titles than his own, but insisting on using his own range. Would you consider him rude? What would you do if you met the Queen? Call her “Mrs. Windsor”? ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2009, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-one-address-a-sir/514660/88 "2009-10-23T19:45:37Z")
> [@Candyman74](#): > > What would you do if you met the Queen? Call her “Mrs. Windsor”? I’d call her Ma’am, which just happens to be the correct thing to do. That’s fine, but ‘highness’, ‘majesty’? I really couldn’t keep a straight face, they sound so silly. _Good morning, Your Altitude_. Aux lanternes with the whole pack of them. Cromwell rid us of them once. We were fools to bring them back. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2009, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-one-address-a-sir/514660/89 "2009-10-23T20:16:16Z")
> [@Chez\_Guevara](#): > > Compare and contrast Sir Ben Kingsley (born Krishna Bhanji) who reportedly gets somewhat agitated if his accolade is omitted when being addresed. Kingsley has been criticized by fellow knights as well as holders of more lofty titles for his attitude. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2009, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-one-address-a-sir/514660/90 "2009-10-25T04:34:22Z")
> [@Myglaren](#): > > The generally accepted form is “Sir” followed by his Christian name, so Sir John Buchanan-Riddell, former13th Baronet and Lord Lieutenant of Northumberland, would be “Sir John” until such time as he invited one to drop the title. Although I’ve seen this done by the uninformed, up to and including at least some professional newswriters, it’s clearly never appropriate to address him as Sir Buchanan-Riddell. When you are first introduced to a knight or baronet, you’re supposed to address him as Sir Firstname, as in your example. Eventually if you become on friendly terms you just call him Firstname. But back in the day when friends and business associates often addressed each other by surnames, would you go from calling him Sir John to just John, or would there be an intermediate phase of calling him Buchanan-Riddell? ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2009, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-one-address-a-sir/514660/91 "2009-10-25T04:41:31Z")
> [@pan1](#): > > Sir is appropriate for a British knight. > > In the Military we (the enlisted folk) joke - Don’t call me “Sir”, I work for a living. - A reference that we call officers “Sir.” Isn’t “Sir” appropriate for any man under formal circumstances, at least among presumed equals? I thought these days any man by default is assumed to be a gentleman–so Sir would be correct for anyone except the holder of a Peerage title (whether by right or courtesy). ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2009, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-one-address-a-sir/514660/92 "2009-10-25T04:44:01Z")
> [@blinkingblinking](#): > > The reason I ask is that I was talking to a moron at work on the phone and instead of calling him Mr Smith I was calling him ‘Sir’. He said to me that he was offended by being called ‘Sir’ as he had not been Knighted. He was not joking.. Clearly he was vexed at being passed over in last January’s Honours List. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-one-address-a-sir/514660.md?page=4)