Not so much in the UK... apart from perhaps the older generation. I'm 26 and on first name terms with most of the people I meet personally (letter writing is a bit different, but hey, who does that any more?! laugh )

There's a few older people that I only use their title and last name, but they're at least in their 60s if not older. So it's more a generation thing rather than a social status thing.

Unlike some parts of the US, we don't use Sir and Miss to address people, unless they're teachers.

My greatest confusion was when I was living and teaching in Poland, they still have fairly structured rules of address. The English equivalent would be something like:

Very Formal: Mr Johnathan Smith
Formal: Mr Johnathan
Informal: Johnathan
Very Informal: John

I think I've got that right, any Polish lurkers are welcome to correct me. Certainly, you'd never use Mr Smith like you would in the UK.

I could never figure out quite how I should address the Principal, my fellow teachers or my students, some of whom where adults and were older than me. And there were times when it all got too confusing for my own good, like the time I had to send a kid to see the Principal because he was misbehaving, and I couldn't think how I should to refer to her... dizzy

As a little note, my random fact for the day... I've been told that 'thee/thou/thy/thine' were once the informal form of 'you' in English (As in "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate..." and so on). This has mostly become obsolete, although you occasionally still find it used in some places in the UK, like Yorkshire.

Helga


Knowledge is knowing that tomatoes are a fruit.

Intelligence is not putting them in a fruit salad.