Quote:
Originally Posted by AOII Angel
Just saw this. If you do not know the man personally, it is Mr. LAST NAME. If you have a long relationship with the man in question, it is Mr. FIRST NAME.
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May I suggest that two gentlemen unknown to each other are always Mr. Surname. If they are well known to each other they are John and Peter without the Mr. prefix.
A neice or nephew will address the older relative as Uncle John.
A gentleman never addresses anyone as Mr. John.
Mr. John is a form of address, dieing out (in the US but not so much in the UK) for the last twenty years or so, used only by family servants to younger males or in some cases by an old family servant to a grown man who was addressed in that manner by that servant when the man was a boy.
This was a charming custom which is now hopelessly obsolete and actually inappropriate unless the person using the "Mr. John" form of address is more comfortable with it than the "Mr. Smith" form.
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