Mister Priest
I call priests Mister and I make not apologies. I mean I’ll call him Reverend Peters if he’s a man of the cloth called John Peters, and that’s cool, but I’ll call him John if his name’s John when I’m talking to him.
I will not call him Reverend.
This causes some concern when planning a wedding and talking to the guy who’s going to be front row center, but it just sounds wrong any other way.
I also give no fucks for calling doctors Doctor. Dr Burn (my doctor was called Dr Burn - LOLZ!) gets straight questions from me, without their job title tagged on the end.
“Should it be that colour, Doctor?”
Why do people do that? There’s normally no one else in the room when you ask doctory questions, so there’s no need to do it. The doctor isn’t going to go: “Oh, you mean me?”
Unless people find it reassuring. “Tell me the truth. How long have I got, Kevin?” It doesn’t sound right.
I also don’t call the police “Officer”. PC Watson - fine. It identifies them. It saves time. Sarah Watson the policewoman - “PC Watson”. That’s cool. But: “Thank you Officer, I’ll call you if I hear anything” ? That’s just silly.
It is not a respect thing at all. It’s a sense thing. We don’t say: “How much are we talking about, Plumber?” So why the title/identifier for priests, doctors and policemen?
Now, they do it the Army all the time, don’t they, Captain? I’m glad I’m not in the military. That would annoy the hell out of me. That and getting shot at by people whose country I have no right to be in.
I might start doing this at work.
“Designer, how long are we talking about for the mock-ups? … Really, because Producer here says it’s a three day turnaround - which is fine for launch date, isn’t it Editor?”
Annoying, hey Reader?
June 27th, 2007 at 8:55 am
As witty as this observation might be, Blogger, something tells me that it harks back to “ye olde days”, when people in positions of authority commanded some sort of respect.
Personally, I like the idea of calling everyone by their job name. Imagine the fun you could have.
On a train: “Morning, revenue protection officer, here’s my ticket for to check.”
In the cafe: “Aha, Beverages Assistant, I’d like a cup of tea, please.”
Anyway, get back to work Manager, Topicality!
June 27th, 2007 at 12:31 pm
I like to be called Mr President, it has a nice ring to it.
June 27th, 2007 at 1:14 pm
It’s better than my title. Cheers Senior Editor and Mr President.
June 27th, 2007 at 1:25 pm
Mine would be Total Dossing Blogreader today… I quite like it
June 27th, 2007 at 2:13 pm
Well, the French have that weird trick where they refer to people as “Monsieur le Postman”. Or something …
June 27th, 2007 at 2:44 pm
That’s why I just ask everyone to call me Baroness Von Newton, you see. You know where you are with the aristocracy.
June 27th, 2007 at 5:18 pm
I don’t like it much when people tag my name with a Mister.
June 27th, 2007 at 6:06 pm
Mr Ed?
June 27th, 2007 at 11:28 pm
*glare*
June 28th, 2007 at 7:14 am
I grew up with Clifford the Big Red Dog. I’m with you, brother.
June 28th, 2007 at 9:01 am
Try being Ms House.
June 28th, 2007 at 2:19 pm
Ah, she’s a Brrrick House!
June 28th, 2007 at 7:55 pm
I call most people ‘darling’. Including the plumber. And the bishop. None of them seems to mind.