Query about address

[James A. Landau]

In a message dated 4/2/01 8:57:37 AM Eastern Daylight Time, tem at JUNO.COM
writes:

<< 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. >>

_Moll Flanders_ by Daniel Defoe, published in 1722
(page numbers are from the 1989 Bantam paperback, ISBN 0-553-21328-8.  The
text of this edition runs to 259 pages)
in pages 10 through 40 the narrator, a house servant (who does not assume the
name "Flanders" until page 44) is addressed as, or refers to herself as,
"Mrs. Betty" and occasionally as "Betty" without a title.

Page 30 a man facetiously addresses his sister as "Mrs. Mirth-wit"

Page 28 in one paragraph "[the matriarch asked] whether there was anything
between her son Robert and me....I told her that Mr. Robert had rattled and
jested...those who had suggested [an affair existed] had done me a great deal
of wrong and Mr. Robert no service at all."

It would seem that when Defoe was writing the term "Mrs." had not yet settled
down to specifying a married woman but was still a title of address to a
woman who may be married or unmarried.  Note that the woman who we would call
the narrator's "foster mother" is referred to on page 6 as "Mistress Nurse".

Defoe might also have been guilty of satirical wordplay.  In the first few
pages he plays with the connotations of the words "gentlewoman" and "madam".

Also page 5 <begin quote>
...my good nurse [the "Mistress Nurse" cited above] told Mr. Mayor the whole
tale; he was so pleased with it that he would call his lady and his two
daughters to hear it...on a sudden comes Mrs. Mayoress and her two daughters
to the house to see my old nurse  and to see her school and the children.
When they had looked about them a little, "Well, Mrs. ----," says the
Mayoress to my nuirse, "and pray which is the little lass that is to be a
gentlewoman?"  I heard her, and I was terible frighted, though I did not know
why neither; but Mrs. Mayoress comes up to me.  "Well, miss," says she, "and
what are you at work upon/"  The word "miss" was a language that had hardly
been heard of in our school, and I wondered what sad name it was she called
me;...
<end quote>

and page 40 <begin quote>
"...There's Major ----," says she, "he was an eminent pickpocket; there's
Justice Ba---r, was a shoplifter..."
<end quote>

other examples not from Defoe

"Lord Jim"

Sam Rayburn, the long-time speaker of the US House of Representatives, was
"Mister Sam".

I seem to recall that Robert E. Lee was referred to as "Marse Robert" where
"Marse" I believe is a rendering of "Master"

Many slaveowners thought of themselves as having a paternalistic relationship
to their slaves (and were probably quite insulted when their slaves turned
"contraband" en masse as soon as a Union army showed up).  It certainly makes
sense that a family that considered itself paternalistic towards its slaves
would encourage the use of a familiar-yet-deferential form of address such as
"Miss Scarlett".

By the way, the use of "Miss Scarlett" etc. would not be restricted to house
slaves.  The field hands may have been encouraged to use the same forms of
address.  It's just that house slaves had much more occasion to address
members of the owner's family than the field hands did.

Don't overlook that there is a reason for using first names in formal
address.  Not just slaves but non-slave servants and outside tradesmen who
had frequent business with members of a large family, would necessarily have
to go to first names to distinguish between family members who shared the
same last name:: "please take this box to Miss Emily and leave this bag for
Mr. Charles."

    - Jim Landau