Very, very common in South Asian culture. It’s considered rude to refer to someone older or in a position of authority or someone with whom you have purely a professional relationship by just their given names without a title of some kind. Using given names bare is a sign of a certain degree of intimacy or an exercise of superior status.
I first heard it in depictions of slaves working in “The Master’s” house: “Miss Maybelle, would you be so kind as to bring out more of those delectable biscuits?”
But it’s also a bit infantilizing. My father’s business office did that, too, and he’d often refer to “the gals in the secretarial pool.” I always thought that was harmless, until he said “We don’t like hiring women, or promoting them, because you never know if they’re going to get pregnant and quit.”
So, being “just one of the gals” made it easier to keep them working for less with no chance of promotion, and keep them expendable.
So now I have an almost-irrational hate for the term. And almost everyone refers to someone this way: “the gal who cleans my teeth” or “the gals at the reception desk…”
Are they really treating these “gals” as equals? Thanks to my dad and his conservative business leader golf buddies, I leap to the conclusion that they don’t.
So when my old-school brother-in-law always refers to “the gals in the front office”, I just seethe…
I don’t think that would bother me. It’s in the context of this super-ripped gigantic dude dominating physical competition against much smaller, pudgy couch potatoes. Like, dude, of course you won. It wasn’t some miracle, put the prayer hands away.
It’s not even that, really, since technically I don’t think it is actually prayer hands. It just seems so condescending in that context. Then again, it would not seem that way to me if he did the exact same thing after winning a puzzle, which he has been shown to struggle with all season.
I guess what I’m saying is, if you find yourself in a competition where your opponent has no chance whatsoever, and then you dominate as expected, don’t feign gratefulness.
I think my aunt may have spent too much time in Alabama, because, when I explained to her “yawl’s like a ketch”, she had the oddest reaction.
Yes. I had the misfortune to be quoted at length in a company newsletter and every mention was in the form of “Legatum said…”. Grated on me to no end, because my name - although not as common as, say “Smith” - is shared with many people across the United States. …although using last name only IS supposed to be standard news reporting format.
Well, of course it is. I find it really grating when there’s a news-style article that refers to someone, or attributes to em, by given name.
Indeed, I find it annoying that Fil on YouTube’s Wings of Pegasus always refers to performers by their given names. You don’t know Neil Young personally! Stop referring to him as “Neil”! Ugh! (I otherwise like his videos.)
I am regularly called Mr. Firstname by a specific group of co-workers, all of whom happen to be younger (than me) African American females.
I sorta dig it.
(and I really enjoy it when kids do it)
mmm
Just so long as your first name isn’t Charlie
Clearly you’ve never worked for Walmart, or else you would have heard of Mr. Sam.
I have a friend who gave two of her children names that could easily be mistaken for surnames if Ms/Mr were used with them.
Some acronyms, while convenient, really ought to be confined to written communication, rather than spoken aloud.
Others are sufficiently woody on the ear.
In other news, I do not wish to be addressed as Mr. Brown by adults (my adult daughter’s childhood friends have dispensation, of course).
I can’t speak for everywhere but in my experience it’s not an uncommon way to address someone personally in a professional context where you don’t know then well (or at all) and “Firstname” would be too casual and Mr Lastname would be too formal; especially if they’re about the same age as you.
“Taking your position to its logical conclusion …”
For example: “You say that students learn better if forced to concentrate by there being some distraction…taking this to its logical conclusion we should have marching bands roaming the halls of our school playing Souza marches at full volume.”
No, no, no. That is not taking a statement to its logical conclusion. It is taking things to an utterly ridiculous extrapolation.
Maybe I’ve officially reached Grumpy Old Man stage, but lately I keep hearing the term “that (thing) really slaps!” (meaning it is really good), and it just sounds stupid to me.
I work in a classroom, and the kids all use Mr./Mrs. Firstname, just because it’s easier and more anonymous.
FLOTUS, too. ICK!
(Potus sounds like something you’d use in your sour mash concoction, you moonshining Gato, you!)
One of the shows I watch is Masters of Illusion (TV series) - Wikipedia. It’s hosted by Dean Cain, and as part of the introduction to each show he says “You can’t believe what you see, even with your own eyes.”
Well, who else’s eyes would you (or could you) be using?
I only ferment, not distill. But I’ll share with you anyway.
Priced to sell. The hell else is a price for?