Query about address

[Laurence Horn]

At 2:34 PM +0100 4/2/01, Lynne Murphy wrote:
>--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.

And then there's "Mr. Bill", of TV cartoon fame.  But in fact the Mr.
+ first name is a stereotypic representation of slave forms of
address to the younger members of the master's family:  Mr. William,
Mr. Rhett, etc., alongside Miz (not Miss!) Joan, Miz Scarlett.
Whether these stereotypes corresponded to reality, I have no idea.
But in this case, at least, I don't think the sex of the referent
played a role--the age and status were more relevant.

larry