Forms of address (Was: Re: "Leader DeLay"???)

[Peter A. McGraw]

A long time ago at a university far, far away (well, specifically in
Chattanooga, TN, in the early 1970s) I ran into a usage I'd never
encountered before and have not encountered since.

This was before first names among colleagues and coworkers was
universal--at least I presume it is everywhere now.  Faculty colleagues
called each other by first names, and addressed and referred to the dean of
faculty the same way, but administrators at the VP level and up were
referred to by last name, without title ("Do you think Brownley will go
along with it?"), and addressed (IIRC) by last name plus "Mrs." or "Mr."
("Ms." was barely getting started then).  The unfamiliar usage I'm talking
about was among "The Administration."  They addressed each other by title
alone, e.g.,

"What do you think, Dean?"
"I dunno, Chancellor, but I'll check it out."

Is this still alive and well in the South, does anybody know, or did it go
out with last names, or...?

Peter Mc.

--On Friday, May 13, 2005 6:13 PM -0400 Wilson Gray <wilson.gray at RCN.COM>
wrote:

> Historical note.
>
> In the South, it was never the custom of white people to address a
> black person as "Mr.," "Mrs.," or "Miss" under any set of
> circumstances. However, it *was* customary for whites to address blacks
> by any other title, sometimes mockingly, such as addressing a school
> principal as "Professor." My father, a native of Alabama who had a
> degree in law from the University of Wisconsin, styled himself as "H.
> W. Gray / Attorney-at-Law" and as "Atty. H. W. Gray." So, he was
> addressed by both blacks and whites as "Attorney Gray" or, mainly by
> other blacks, as "Lawyer Gray." Had he made available to white people
> his "real," so to speak, name of "Wilson Gray" - the "H" was added for
> purposes of euphony, a widespread Southern custom; cf., e.g. the late
> President Harry S. Truman - whites would have most likely addressed him
> as "Willie," as is my personal experience, even in a city as far
> "North" as St. Louis.
>
> In Texas, my maternal grandfather styled himself as "Rev. S. L.
> Garrett, D.D." and was addressed as and referred to by all and sundry
> as "Reverend Garrett." My maternal grandmother styled herself as "Mrs.
> S. L. Garrett." In the black community, she was addressed as and
> referred to as "Miss Willie Gladys." When she had occasion to have to
> deal with members of "the other group" (one of many euphemisms for
> "white people"), she was addressed as and referred to as "Reverend
> Garrett's wife." And no. No one was laughing.
>
> On the other hand, all white persons old enough to speak were addressed
> as and referred to as "Mr. John" or as "Miss Jane," irrespective of any
> other title that the white person of the other group might have
> possessed.
>
> "Miss" and "Mrs." were distinguished in writing, but not in speech.
>
> Among blacks, it's possible for a person to have as a name - *not* a
> nickname - what would otherwise be a title, such as "Major, Duke,
> General, Bishop, Prince, King, Pope, Priest, Lawyer," etc. for men and
> "Queen, Princess, Lady," etc. for women. Since there is a dearth of
> title-/rank-names available for women, parents are sometimes forced to
> be creative. I have a cousin, Hallie Victoria, whose name is based on
> the phrase, "Hail, Victoria!" And, of course, there's the custom of
> using "Lady" as the femininizer of masculine names, e.g. my cousin,
> Lady Percy, daughter of cousin Percy, who had no sons.



*****************************************************************
Peter A. McGraw       Linfield College        McMinnville, Oregon
******************* pmcgraw at linfield.edu ************************