On television, you commonly hear characters call their in-laws by their first names. In contrast, where I grew up, it’s customary to call in-laws by their first name preceded by “Mister” or “Miss” (I think that’s a folksy thing).
I call my in-laws “Mr. Dave” and “Miss Yvonne”. What do you all do? Does anyone stick with “Mr. Jones / Mrs. Jones”? That seems a little too formal, yet “Dave” sounds too familiar for a father-in-law.
Some people might actually call their in-laws “Dad” and “Mom” (or their equivalents).
I call mine Mom and Dad, on the advice of one of their son-in-laws. My family HATES that I do that. “You only have one Mom and Dad”. Sheesh. My grandmother NEVER told my dad what to call her, so he never called her anything. For 40 years. Bitch.
First names. I had to break my husband of calling my parents Mr. & Mrs. (last name), which just sounded silly, but he grew up where you called your elders that way. I grew up calling my aunts and uncles by their first names sans the aunt and uncle part. I’d never call my in-laws Mom or Dad. For one, I don’t like them. For another, I’m just not that intimate with anyone.
I call my in-laws by their first names, and that’s what I’ve always called them. My mother-in-law invited me to call her “mom” once hubby and I were married, but I told her (only half-joking) that I like her too much to do that to her!
If they were alive? Well, from what I’ve heard about Mr. S’s dad, I’d be avoiding him as much as possible. His mother, I’d ask what she wanted me to call her, and I’m guessing that would be first name. Hm. I’ll ask him when he gets home what the other kids-in-law called her.
Mr. S has never really addressed my parents directly – we tend to make clear whom we’re talking to by body language, eye contact, content of conversation, etc. But I think he would use first names also. He’s only 10-15 years younger than them, so Mom/Dad would be silly.
I met them when I was 14, so they were always Mr & Mrs Surname. When we were engaged, my FIL asked me to stop calling him Mr Surname, and just call him Dad. MIL (who doesn’t like me) just turned away and looked out the window when he said this. So for a few years, it was Dad and Mrs Surname.
After a while, I figured this situation was ludicrous, and now I call her nothing. You know how you can always phrase a question another way, or get someone’s attention without actually addressing them ? That’s been the situation with my MIL for the last six years. It works for me, because while I love my FIL very much and am happy to call him ‘Dad’, I wouldn’t call my MIL ‘mum’. Things are getting better, though, so maybe one day it will be ‘Dad’ and ‘first name’.
My husband called my parents Mr and Mrs Surname until asked by them (two years after we were engaged) to call them by their first names.
When my wife and I started dating at age 15, I called them Mr. or Mrs. After we got married, I called them “mom” and “dad”, but I didn’t do so a lot. After a few more years, I called them by their first names.
:eek:
Is it just me or is it cold in here? Brrr, what a bitch of an MIL, Goo. Sounds a little like mine.
When I have to address her directly, I do call her by her first name, though.
Yes … born and raised in New Orleans. Lived their until age 29, and all of our family is still there.
I think appending “Mister/Miss” to an elder’s first name is a New Orleans thing more than a pan-Southern thing. Actually, any familiar, non-related elder adult (family friends, congenial neighbors, well-liked schoolteachers, etc.) get the “Mister/Miss” treatment.
I call my wife’s grandfather “Mr. Harold.” He’s from Indiana, and finds my naming practice for him unusual, so he ribs me by calling me “Mr. Doug.”
I’m mildly surprised to find the first-name only deal being aas common as it is.
