Word: mr
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...Mr. Suarez can report of the victory to the people of Spain: "Veni. vidi, vici...
...Jimmy" thought and what "Jimmy" meant to do. When "Jimmy" was in London for the economic summit, he went out of his way to get on a first-name basis with a difficult character named "Helmut." But West German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt, with chilly punctilio, insisted on calling Carter "Mr. President." Tass, the Soviet news agency, would have none of the amiable diminutive either; in the course of attacking his human rights policy, Tass has haughtily referred to Rosalynn's husband as "President James Carter...
...Constitution forbids the Government to bestow titles of nobility, and Americans have always cultivated a certain national breeziness. Democracy and mobility have conspired with a traveling salesman's protocol ("Call me Joe-here's what I've got!") to efface even the "Mr." from the way that Americans address one another. All the same, the Carters' interminable "Jimmying" in a White House so recently thought of as Imperial has turned informality into standard policy...
Still, there are ritual subtleties. Business relationships, for example, can be complicated. At first phone contact, a person may be "Mr." or "Mzzz"-slurred slightly so as not to be entirely the feminist "Ms." Then both names-"Hello, Paul Anderson?"-may be used for a couple of calls. Whereupon, first names seem permissible. Some companies take ostentatious care to have everyone use first names-though secretaries often remain "Ellen" while the boss is "Mr. Jackson." The jaunty practice of using initials is often helpful: everyone becomes E.C., J.B., T.L., and so on. Clare, a young woman who wants to make...
Many, especially liberals, display a touching reticence about admitting social and economic differences. Women often introduce their maids as "Mrs. Parker"-but they rarely tell the maid, "Mary, meet my friend Georgia." Doormen, among others, usually use Mr. or Mrs. when addressing the tenants, but expect to be called "Frank" or "Reuben." If a tenant in a democratic effusion should suggest that they both use first names, the doorman is often vaguely offended-something in the relationship has been disrupted...