Back when I was younger, I knew my share of adults. In those days, we kids called all adults by Mr. or Mrs. Whatever happened to this practice?
I first noticed the change when we moved to the new neighborhood. The people across the street were very informal with the children on the block. It was as if someone had made the decision to allow children to be equal with adults at some level. It felt weird to me.
I remember my mom making some remarks at one point about a girl that used to visit my grandmother's neighbor at the time. The neighbor was an older lady, and although she insisted that the child call her by her first name, the child still prefixed it with Mrs. as a sign of respect. I've kept this usage tucked away in my mind for the longest time, and wonder where the respect has gone.
Do you also use a prefix for aunts and uncles? Do you call your uncle just plain "Bob" when you talk to him? Or do you always prefix it so you're saying "Uncle Bob"? Isn't it weird that you would do it for people that you would supposedly be more familiar with (family) than with strangers?
Teachers are another weird instance. Any teacher in school is Mr. or Mrs. if you don't want to be in trouble. I don't think I've known the first names of but a handful of teachers throughout my school career, and I never used those names to speak to or of them.
Things have spun out of control. None of the kids on our block call me or Berta "Mr." or "Mrs.", and I think it's too late now to have them start. Even if we did, we'd now be the weird ones on the block that don't let the kids call us by our first names. We'd be like Mrs. Johnson next door - somewhat more unapproachable because of the formality (but true, it's mostly because of the disposition).
I'm not really sure what I'm looking for here. Is it respect? Maybe, but I don't think that's the whole picture. I just think that I'll miss those days.
