Addressing Adults

[Helen Marshall]

I'm doing a school project/journal on a Titanic person. The person I was doing has a step-father and I was wondering how she would address him...(last name, first, father??)
Thanks!

 

[Darren Honeycutt]

I imagine it would depend on different factors, is the real father living, is the person close to the step-father? I think I would call someone who was my step dad by his first name.

 

[Lester Mitcham]

In terms of 1912 it is my understanding that a lot of American children [particularly boys] used the word Sir when speaking to their fathers. Otherwise [as I understand for England], as father. While it could depend on the age of the person use of a last or first name is by my understanding unlikely although a lot of husbands and wives referred to and called their spouses as Mrs/Mr....... rather than using a first name.

 

[monica e. hall]

By 1912, I think it unlikely that spouses would have called their spouse Mrs. or Mr. - that's a rather 18th Century convention. However, they may have so referred to their spouses in conversation, at least with strangers. I was always rather fazed by a friend's mother, who referred to her husband as "The General" in conversation, and that was in the 1970s, despite the fact that I called him "George". I think it was rather an affectation. In the same era, I also had a friend who married an Iranian princeling, whose servant used to refer to her in the local UK village greengrocer's etc. as "Her Serene Highness, Princess Jane". It was most embarrassing, especially since Jane had grown up there. The marriage failed.

In 1912, upper class British children often called their father's "Sir", as in America, and I would imagine it might be a convenient way of getting round what to call the bloke, especially if your natural father were still alive. That wouldn't have affected so many people then though, as divorce was comparatively rare. If the real father were dead, then I think it likely that they would address the stepfather as "father".

 

[David Haisman]

Addressing people and laughter in court (fact)

Q ''This myasthenia gravis, does it affect your memeory at all?
A ''Yes''
Q ''And in what ways does it affect your memory ?''
A ''I forget.''
Q '' You forget? Can you give us an example of something you've forgotten?''

Next Case,

Q '' What was the first thing your husband said to you when you woke up this morning?''
A ''He said. Where am I Cathy?''
Q '' And why did that upset you?''
A ''My name is Susan.''

Next Case,

Q ''Now doctor, isn't it true that when a person dies in his sleep, he doesn't know about it until the next morning.?''
A ''Am I to believe that you actually passed the Bar Exam?''

Have a good Easter,

David H

 

[monica e. hall]

References please, David? Not doubting, but interested.

 

[Paul Rogers]

It's possible that the source of such 'bloopers' is the National Shorthand Reporter, now apparently known as The Journal of Court Reporting. Further examples of poor questioning by the legal profession can be found here.

 

[David Haisman]

Hello Monica,

My elder brother in Brisbane sends me these witticisms on the occasion when taking time off from brewing his own booze. He spends much of his time shooting at ducks with his catapult to prevent them from ''poohing'' in his swimming pool. Apart from that, he's a clean living man and doesn't chase women, believing women with skirts up, can run faster than men with trousers down.
He is an honourable man when sober, and wouldn't pass on any ''porkies'' to me, being an honourable chap as well, as you must surely know by now.
Having never indulged in the home brew myself and not having owned a catapult since breaking a neighbours window back in the 1950's, we are similar apart from that I suppose.
He was my source for ''laughter in court'' and I think Paul Rogers got it just about right on that score.


David H

 

[Marilyn Lena Penner]

Helen,

I think it would depend most on the stepfather's wishes, and also on the mother's wishes. Some step-parents were called 'Father' or 'Mother'. Some were called "Uncle" or "Aunt". The movie actor David Niven, who was born in the 19-oughts, called his step father "Uncle Tommy" in his memoir 'The Moon's a Balloon'. [BTW he didn't like his step-dad.]

And of course the child's age and feelings about said step-parent. Lizzie Borden, who axed her father and stepmother, apparently always called her stepmother 'Mrs. Borden', never 'Mother' or by her first name.

 

[Marilyn Lena Penner]

Helen,
Just thought of it. Upper class children were usually taken care of by nannies, and so probably had a distant, formal relationship with their parents. (Of course I'm generalizing. Some probably got on well with their folks.) So, they may be more apt to call a step-father "Father", "Sir" or "Uncle" than "Dad" or "Poppa".
I suppose it really depends on the persons involved. If the step-parent and step-child got along well, there would be little or no constraint to calling and being called Father, Dad, Pops, or by the first name.

 

[Darren Honeycutt]

It also has to do with what part of the country one is from. My dads parents were both born in 1897 and he was raised saying Mama and Daddy. I think those examples of what he called his parents was probably passed down from what his parents called their parents. Mama and daddy are very common ways to address ones parents in the southern United States.

[Moderator's Note: This thread, originally placed in "General Titanica," has been moved to this subtopic, which deals the same general subject matter as this thread. MAB]

 

[Helen Marshall]

Thanks for your help!
If this helps at all, the person I am doing a project on is a 19 year old first class girl. Her real father died a couple of years before.
Thanks again for all your help!!