[HPforGrownups] Re: Rosmerta - First or Last name

[Sherry Gomes]

No: HPFGUIDX 128631

Geoff:
Your comment led me led to wonder in which part of the UK you live.

I would never call a female acquaintance by her last name only 
without the prefix "Mrs." or "Miss" and I have never heard any other 
adult do likewise. You will occasionally hear teenagers call others 
by last names but even that is much less common than it was in years 
past.

When I first started teaching in a single-sex school, it was 
customary to call the boys by their last names but that fell out of 
use when we went co-educational. I might jokingly call a man "Jonesy" 
or "Smithy" but otherwise, most informal contact would involve using 
their first name.

Sherry now:

I don't have my braille books handy and it's too crazy to look up one
particular section in an audio book, but do any adults call Rosemerta
"Madam"?  Could the title be more of a respect thing for the children to
use?  When my best friends boys were very small they called me "Miss
Sherry", because their parents wanted them to use some kind of respectful
title when addressing adults.  They didn't like the way kids were going
around calling any and all adults by their first names and wanted them to
learn some respect for older people.  now, the kids call me Aunt Sherry, but
it's the same principle except that I'm considered a member of the family
and they gave me a family title.  

However, as we see in the Potter books, the kids routinely call adults some
sort of formal title.  Here in the states, it's become old-fashioned for
kids to refer to adults by titles like Mr. or Mrs. in many cases.  Yet in
the Potter world, Harry always refers to the Weasley parents as Mr. or Mrs.,
just to name one example.  So, i always thought the words Madam Rosemerta
were sort of a courtesy used mostly by the hoards of school children.

Sherry