First name basis?

[PhiPsiRuss]

Originally posted by BetaRose
I find that creepy. My old church required that members address each other that way, and it always bothered me. If I were a prospective GLO member, and heard the sisters/brothers do that, I would be out the door.

Its not done in front of prospects.

[sairose]

I don't know if such a policy exists, but I DO know that every SAI I've ever known calls everyone by first names...including alums, national officers, etc etc. I like it this way; puts everyone on the same level!

[Sister Havana]

Originally posted by Taualumna
You know, it's kind of weird. When I went back to my high school for reunion weekend, many of the teachers asked the returning students to call them by their first names instead of by their honourifics. I'm ok with calling the younger teachers by their first names, but it was weird to do so with teachers who are old enough to be my parent!

I couldn't do that. I'm 30 now, and even now if I see someone who was a former teacher or talk about that person, it's always Mr. or Mrs. Whoever. It would be too weird to call them by their first names!

I don't know how people who teach in the district where they went to school do it. It would be odd to have to relate to former teachers as coworkers.

[rho4life]

I know you directed this at NPC groups, but I'm at work and bored, , so I decided to answer back for my NPHC org - Sigma Gamma Rho.

At formal meetings we call each other "Soror Lastname".......but when we're just hanging out it's "stinkypants, or Shelly, etc."

I like that there is a distinction between biz and pleasure.

However, it is not uncommon to hear the term Soror used outside of a meeting. It's really handy when you run into someone who you recognize, but you can't remember their name . "Hi Soror" sounds better than "Hey .......you..." while trying to remember their name.

It is kind of tricky when people get married, and you're trying to keep track of their now preffered last name.

[Munchkin03]

Once, I asked a President Emerita what I should call her. Her reply? "We're sisters, so call me _____." When dealing with National Council members, most will usually say, "call me FirstName." Since most are considerably older than I, I tend to do what they say.

Outside of Greek Life, however, I refer to non-related adults by their honorific.

[texas*princess]

paging honeychile!

she knows a lot more about policies like that more than I do...

but I really don't think we have any policies either for first-names or to use "titles" like Miss or Mrs.

Personally for me, I would call her "Miss Blake" out of respect because she is older than I am and I don't personally know her. (official policy or not). Now if I went up and met her and she didn't want me calling her "Miss Blake" and by her first name instead, I would be completely cool with that too

[aephi alum]

Hmmm... I never really thought about it.

As far as I know, AEPhi doesn't have a formal policy one way or the other. But I'd feel odd calling someone of my parents' generation (or older) by her or his first name unless specifically requested to do so. I'm sure, though, that if I called another AEPhi "Mrs./Miss/Ms. ___" she would immediately turn around and say "Oh, call me ___, we're sisters after all!" I would do the same for a younger AEPhi.

[nhpgator]

i don't think AOII has a policy either. I do know that on our convention and leadership institute name tags our first name is always put in big letters so you can read it across a room or hall and then last name is underneath it with position, chapter and so forth in a smaller type

i tried to go through my memory of all the different ocasions that this might be applicable - and pretty much it is all first names but with a few Mrs. SO and So's - I think it depends on how comfortable you are with the person, their personality and your personality. I guess that is as clear as mud huh??

Being from the south, as has been mentioned by others, i think also sways my opinion. Everyone I meet who is older than me is Miss or Mrs. So-and-So until i am instructed otherwise.And to many of my friends children i am Miss Tasha - (even though I am married now and the kids are trying to learn Mrs. Tasha - but heck i can't remember the Mrs. part half the time so why should they!!!)

anyway that is my two cents.

[honeychile]

To my knowledge, there is no hard & fast policy in Alpha Delta Pi. But, we were always taught (by our mamas, then by our chapter) that you call an alumna "Mrs. Jones" or "Miss Jones" or "Ms. Jones" unless she tells you otherwise - which, 99.9 chances out of 100%, she will. We truly are casual to that extent.

HOWEVER!

You're talking about Miss Blake!! She just turn 100 years old, and was Grand President from (let me look this up!) 1948 to 1977!! You are talking about someone who was Grand President longer than some GLOs were even around! Miss Blake devoted her life to Alpha Delta Pi and to the promotion of the Greek System - if anyone alive today has earned her respect, it's Miss Blake!!

I'm sure that there are those who call her Maxine, but I would be worried about the thunderbolt that would most certainly appear afterwards!!

[MTSUGURL]

I can't bring myself to call anyone my parents' age or older by their first name. My best friend insist that I call his parents by their first name, and I compromise by saying "Mrs. FirstName" and "Mr. FirstName". If I had dared call an adult anything more informal than that while I was growing up I was severely reprimanded by my parents.

I love Alpha Gam's first name basis policy!

The highest "ranking" and most powerful woman in the University of Hawaii SYSTEM is Dr. Doris Ching, a 1993 Alumna Initiate at the Chicago Convention. Those who work within the campus system are always instructed to call her "Dr. Ching".

So imagine the look on my old supervisor's face when Dr. Ching comes into our office and I say, "Hey Doris! How ya' doin?" Doris looks at my old boss and says, "She's my SISTER." and gave me a wink and a smile.

My sisters know exactly what I'm talking about.

[GtownGirl98]

I had an "Ask the Pres" question and it felt weird about going Dear Suzanne... but that is the way of things.

I consider myself southern, southern by birth, southern by where I've lived (though some don't consider KY Southern, and Louisville is most assuredly not southern) southern by faith (Southern Baptist Feminist)... I was kinda brought up it call people Mr. or Ms. but I've never worked in a place where you do this. Education has only been the place where I call people by a pre-fix.

SO... Georgetown has a tradition for graduating students and it is called the nameing ceremony... this is where all the profs and the staff line up and the graduating students walk up to each of them and they reintroduce themselves as Bob or Jill... or BILL (that would be the President of the College)... so it is wonderful to walk up to President Crouch (who you wouldn't call by anything else) and go... Good Evening Bill.

I do wish sometimes that we were a more formal society because moments like that are wonderful! And they add to moments like Sandy described.

[GeekyPenguin]

Originally posted by SmartBlondeGPhB
I have always called all other Gamma Phi's (even IC) by their first name, but I don't know of any policy in Gamma Phi that speaks either way.

I know in old Crescent's, there are many references to "Mrs. X" but that's also the era.

I had actually never thought of it until you mentioned it. Maybe it's because I'm older (so closer to the age of our IC) but I'm almost chuckling thinking about calling our President "Mrs. Read" instead of Vicki. It would be weird..........

This just made me realize that I think I called Betty Quick Mrs. Quick at RLC last year without evening knowing it. Whenever I'm in doubt, I will use the more formal version. For example, I think Betty is roughly the same age as one of our CAs. I can call the CA Lou Anne without hesitation because I saw her initiated and work with her on a daily basis, but I'd feel very odd calling one of our IC members by their first name unless I knew them a lot better.