You Can Call Me Mr.

Names kids use are interesting. Real young folks tend to leave off first syllables, and teens the last - "'fessor" and "prof" respectively, when referring to the college teacher, for example. They sometimes create nicknames that last a lifetime; and come up with the answer to the questuion of how to name grandma. There are challenges, too. For instance, what besides "Timmy's dad", should Timmy's dad be called? Thorny issues alright. In Kennydale we had a simple solution to some of these dilemmas: We used unadulterated first and last names a lot.

The only enduring nickname I can remember right off hand is my next older brother, Lloyd's. At some point in his pre-teens it looked like he was going to be a "tall one" (eventually got to a respectable 5' 11") so he became "Tiny", but only to family and friendlies. If he didn't know you well he wasn't shy about advising "you can call me Lloyd." My dad called me "Pokey", but no else did. Oan and I didn't become "Stupid" until we were in our 40's. Usually in our youth we just used real names. I did that, and still do with the added conceit now of usually not using contractions or short forms - Carol's brother is "Robert", not "Bob"; "Jennifer" is Jennifer and "Theodore" is Theodore. Once, in philosophical discussion I even objected to using the short form of a race horse's name as disrespectful to the animal. "Thirsty Knight" could NOT be called "Thirsty"! I wasn't that bad as a kid, but I still named names, not nicks.

This endearing formality wasn't ironclad for kids (sometimes Don Rogers was a..h...) but was fairly pervasive. Grown-ups around us, though, were ALWAYS called "Mr." or "Mrs." I cannot recall ever addressing an adult non-relative elder by their first name or in any other way. "Mr. Nimtz"; "Mr. Budd". Some teachers got "Mr." or "Mrs." dropped but, for instance, our music and PE guy was still "Shoemaker". I still refer to our long time elderly neighbors "Mr. and Mrs. Robbins" instead of "Sam and Valerie". Even the demanding Anderson guy at the end of a long driveway on my paper route who complained and never paid on time was "Mr." "Mr. A..H..."