At what age should you start calling people mister/misses?

[Diocletian]

I find myself troubled w/ this question. I know a few people older than me in real life & don't know how I should refer to them.

Two questions for the price of one thread. Should you treat them as equals if they're 21 & you're 13-17?

[BestFly]

It's more or less a familiarity thing then anything else. If you're like 16, and you know a 21 year old. Chances are they wont care if you call them by there first name. Adding Mr and Mrs to peoples names is like an honorary title of respect.

Chances are if you called someone Mr or mrs whoever when you were 12 you will continue to call them that even when you're like 30. Same if you've been on a first name basis, only to the opposite extreme.

[Red&Stiletto]

I think its all a matter of how comfortable you are with a person and how well you know them. Its that and also a personal preference issue. It depends mostly on each individual relationship.

[MomijiTMO]

Gotta say I only did that to my teachers in school. I don't address people other than their first name OR it's some reject person with a PhD who insists on being called Dr in which case my contact with them will be limited.

[Aushkei Ver]

You know, I've never thought of the age difference when I refer to people as miss or mister.
I normally just use mister or misses when I'm not too close to the person, I don't want to make a bad impression by just calling them by their name or something else.
Formalities I guess.

[Myrra]

If in doubt, ask.
Some people prefer you call them by their proper name.
Some prefer a title and their last name.
Some like, me go by Miss/Mister first name.
And some prefer you not call them at all

And as someone who works with itty bitty kids, I always ask to be called by Miss and first name...Miss Myrra.
Even the older kids call me that as I feel old when called Ms + last name.

[kenny_killer]

erm.. dbl post... sry.

[kenny_killer]

I call girls who I think are more mature than me Lady. Which is mass majority of them.
...
Just thought that would have some correlation to what you were asking..

[Eris]

You shouldn't. If someone wants me to call them mister, they'll have to change their name to mister.

[MomijiTMO]

I get a feeling that this is quite specific to your culture so it's interesting to see the responses.

[Eris]

I get a feeling that this is quite specific to your culture so it's interesting to see the responses.

Indeed. Sweden abolished all titles in the '60s.

[MomijiTMO]

lol

It's not like I'm rude or something but in general it's RUDE to approach someone with the Sir or Ma'am title too. AFAIK that's polite in the States.

[Eris]

lol

It's not like I'm rude or something but in general it's RUDE to approach someone with the Sir or Ma'am title too. AFAIK that's polite in the States.

The reasoning in moose-land was that you are your person, and not your position, so we scrapped all use of the equivalent of mister, sir, director, officer, doctor, etc. and just use people's names instead.

[Amray The II]

I will call someone "Your Highness" for the sake of sarcasm when they order me to do things.

[Kojack]

I usually address people around my own age or above as sir or ma'am/miss. But if there is someone younger going out and about by themselves, I will address them as sir/miss because of their independence.

Though, because of Taekwondo class I'm used to addressing everyone and their mother with sir or ma'am/miss.

[drm0ney]

I usually address people around my own age or above as sir or ma'am/miss.

Though, because of Taekwondo class I'm used to addressing everyone and their mother with sir or ma'am/miss.

Most people I try and be polite to.

>.> Though some people look at you oddly when I'm all "yes ma'am". (the tkd thing <.<;;; )

[Khanxay]

Whenever they're gained enough of my respect and it doesn't sound entirely silly. I don't do it by age.

[Capernicus]

It depends on their preferences. I call the Children's Pastor at church Mr. Mark and the kids call me Ms. Mary. When I'm working in public school I get called Ms. [last name] and I call the master teacher Mrs. Burdeaux. o.o Everyone else I prefer my first name, just ordinary. I do the same unless otherwise prompted. Oh but I call my professors Professor or Dr. Bergner (or whoever it happens to be).

However, at work I call all the customers sir or ma'm. Even if they're 10. -_-

[CilegnaHeart]

I'm 16 & I address people who are younger than me as mister, misses, ma'am, sir, miss ... all that, hehe, but thats just me.
If a 21 year old gets along with you and your like... 14 then you guys just get a lot. If they dont want you to refer to them as sir or misses then dont. . .
I just met this guy named Lee & he was 24, we got a long great. We had fun that day.. lol, good times.

[jtdlives]

I hate it when people address me as mister. It makes me feal so old. I usally tell people to address me by 1st name only. My boss sometimes will call me mister 1st name just to annoy me, but it usally depends on the person. So just ask what they want to be addressed as.

[Saint Seiya]

when i was a kid and even now i refer to old people -40's and up- as Mr or Mrs and i call young people by their names people that are in their 20's 30's.

[Diocletian]

The reasoning in moose-land was that you are your person, and not your position, so we scrapped all use of the equivalent of mister, sir, director, officer, doctor, etc. and just use people's names instead.

But what about a teacher? You can't just say Smith. Of course it would be terrible to not call my school janitor Janitor Kyle anymore.

[Eris]

But what about a teacher? You can't just say Smith. Of course it would be terrible to not call my school janitor Janitor Kyle anymore.

In Sweden, teachers are lucky if they get called their name, since the most common way to address a teacher is "miss". This goes for teachers of all ages ad genders.

[BestFly]

But what about a teacher? You can't just say Smith. Of course it would be terrible to not call my school janitor Janitor Kyle anymore.

Well in my school like we said mr or mrs or miss for the teachers. Because there was a sense of authority etc. In college you call everyone professor anyways, they like dont have names in college. xD.

[kakashiskitty]

i personally think what you call someone is really just a matter of how well you know the person, naturally if you've never met them your going to be more formal