Query about address

[Lynne Murphy]

--On Monday, April 2, 2001 6:46 pm -0500 thomas e murray <tem at JUNO.COM>
wrote:

> I have a question for the list on forms of address--specifically, on the
> form of address that uses some title plus the addressee's first name, as
> in "Judge Judy," "Dr. Laura," and the like.  I'm looking into the history
> of this formula, and would appreciate any help anyone can give.

The most obvious thing about the examples you've used (including Dr Ruth
and Miss Scarlett) is that they're all female.  In the case of the
professionals like Judge Judy & Dr Ruth, it seems like the first name is
used both to personalize and feminize the people--i.e., this isn't your
father's kind of justice/psychotherapy/whatever, it's this down-to-earth or
newfangled women's kind of thing.  Has anyone heard Senator Hillary?

However, I do recall when I was growing up (in the 1970s) that the younger,
hipper priests would want you to call them Father Pete and such.  I think a
lot of that movement comes from the anti-authoritarian stuff of the late
60s--when these guys become authorities, they don't want to flaunt it.

There's definitely something childish about it, I think.  If someone is a
"Dr Ken" you can pretty much bet he's a pediatrician or psychotherapist.
Here in the UK, there are children's TV characters like Postman Pete and
Bob the Builder.  (And of course, the links between 'childish' and
'feminized' language could be discussed until we're blue in the carpal
tunnels.)

Any Professor Bobs or Professor Janes out there?

Lecturer Lynne

M Lynne Murphy
Lecturer in Linguistics
School of Cognitive and Computing Sciences
University of Sussex
Brighton BN1 9QH
UK

phone +44-(0)1273-678844
fax   +44-(0)1273-671320