Comments on: Kelly’s guide to addressing adults

By: Luke Holzmann

Luke Holzmann — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 13:28:13 +0000

Kelly,

That’s hilarious. But, yes, my wife and I joke about how I’ll be cranky old guy who sits on my porch and yells at the young-uns when I’m old [smile].

~Luke

By: Trisha

Trisha — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 07:37:44 +0000

Kelly, I’m not a grown up yet You can call my by my first name, besides that I am a COUSIN from the much celebrated Redneck side. (lol). Call us what you like just Call us

By: Ruthie

Ruthie — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 23:07:29 +0000

ooo, I like it better Sistah Graham….more precisely phonetic!

By: Kelly

Kelly — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 22:05:45 +0000

Mrs. G, aside from the fact that I feel a little self righteous, it does feel really cool to call people Mr. and Mrs.!

By: Kelly

Kelly — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 22:03:24 +0000

Youngin… I LOVE how they do it in Korea! All I know is what I’ve seen (on mysoju, LOL) and what people have told me, but it sounds pretty awesome. I would probably mess up horribly if I went there though! 6 levels of address!

Catherine: Thank you! The south is a totally different story isn’t it?

Mr. Holzmann (Please don’t feel old!) I hope it gets easier!! I think 80 is the perfect age to be because everyone generally calls you one thing, and you can call everyone else anything you like!

Mrs. Graham,
I like the sound of Sistah Graham. I think when I’m grown up I’ll make people call me Sistah Kelly

By: "Mrs. G"

"Mrs. G" — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 20:37:20 +0000

I love the respect you have for your elders…we sometimes teach our kids to call the workers Uncle or Aunt too. I wonder how much it would confuse our kids to start calling everyone Mr. or Mrs.? I’m tempted because I love the respectful ring it has!

By: Ruthie

Ruthie — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 17:26:43 +0000

Kelly,
I, along with your parents have taught my children to address adults by their last names. All their friends have been taught the same, so I am Mrs. Graham to all of them, except for their Oneness Pentacostal friends who address me as Sister Graham. I tell them they can call me that as long as they say it sort of sassy like, “SistA Graham!” There is also a young man who has been buddies with Emma since infancy, and he calls me Rufee, like he always has. I like it.

By: H. E. Summey

H. E. Summey — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 14:55:31 +0000

The problem is with you. I have addressed adults (even your parents) by their first names and none of them seemed to even notice it.

By: Luke Holzmann

Luke Holzmann — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 14:20:36 +0000

I’m in that awkward stage–hmm… I feel like I’ve been in an awkward stage for about 20 years now–where I’m an adult, but I’m not sure if I can call other adults by their first name. It’s strange.

And, yes, I’m one of those annoying people who feel old when people call me Mr. Holzmann. Actually, that’s my dad’s title [smile].

On the other hand, it amuses me when people call me Mr. Holzmann, so maybe I’m getting over it and accepting my age.

…wow, that was a pile of jumbled thoughts. I guess that means: It hasn’t gotten any easier for me [smile].

~Luke

By: Catherine

Catherine — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 12:28:03 +0000

An excellent post! I like that you often choose topics to discuss that I would dare say most face or have faced but rarely bring up in general conversation.

I take the avoidance route as well. When I was 11, we moved from Ohio to Georgia and there was definitely a difference in the culture of how people addressed each other. I think perhaps that is where I learned to start avoiding addressing people in general. These days, if I’m referring to someone, I like to use: “your mother”, “his cousin”, “so-and-so’s friend”, etc. to avoid figuring out how to properly speak of the person.