They Call Me Mister Tibbs: Difference between revisions

* Vinny Jones' character Big Chris, a loan enforcer for [[All Devouring Black Hole Loan Sharks|Hatchet Harry]], admonishes a delinquent debtor that "It's ''Mister'' Harry to you".

** When Rory Breaker's thug addresses him as "Rory" while he's in the midst of a cold fury, he responds, "That's Mr. Breaker. Today, my name is ''Mr. Breaker!''

* Lampshaded in [[Monkey Business]] by Groucho Marx's character:

{{quote|Gangster: Now listen, bozo-

* ''[[The Night of the Hunter]]: "''Preacher]]'' Harry Powell."

* Some (well, two) of Vonnegut's characters insist on being called "Mom".

** In [[Dan Abnett]]'s [[Gaunt's Ghosts]] novel ''Necropolis'', Curth's first meeting with Dorden starts with his calling her "Ana" and her snapping "Surgeon Curth". She realizes a bit later, as they discuss the complete inadequency of the rooms he has been given to work with, that he was not coming on to her, and feels guilty. (Between her commandeering the resources to make the rooms adequate, and his volunteering to work on her wounded refugees before the fighting actually starts, they patch things up, leading to a [[First-Name Basis]] request at the end of the novel.)

** In ''Sabbat Martyr'', Gaunt's adjunctant Beltayn gives him a message from "Lugo". Gaunt says, "That's Lord General Lugo"—and then says while he doesn't mind, a bad habit could get Beltayn in trouble.

* Referred to in an early book in the [[Master and Commander]] series. When Dr. Maturin asks why Jack so desperately desires promotion to the rank of Post Captain, as he is already called "Captain". Aubrey replies that it is only a courtesy, as he is in fact merely a commander.

{{quote|'''Aubrey''': How would you like it if some fellow could call you "Mister" whenever he chose to come it uncivil?}}

* In the Lisa Gardner novel ''The Third Victim'', Rainie addresses Richard Mann as "Mr. Mann" only to have him respond "Please call me Richard. Mr. Mann was my father." In his case, he is not only discouraging formality, but making a disdainful comment about his father, {{spoiler|which becomes significant when Mann turns out to be responsible for the murders.}}

* In L. Jagi Lamplighter's ''[[Prospero's Daughter|Prospero in Hell]]'', after Mab calls Miranda "[[First-Name Basis|Miranda]]", she kicks herself for not realizing he was [[Not Himself]] and the shapechanger; he always calls her "ma'am" or "Miss Miranda". {{spoiler|Later, after he is freed, Mab carefully watches himself and corrects himself from "Miss Miranda" to "Miranda" and "Mr. Prospero" to "Ludovico."}}

'''Sen. Kinsey''': [raises his finger] I'm sure it was, Commander--

'''Thor''': [raises his finger] ''Supreme'' Commander. }}

** The main characters play with this a lot, given their familiarity. Spock calls Kirk either "Jim" or "Captain" depending on the situation, just as Kirk calls him either "Mr." Spock or just "Spock". Dr. McCoy freely calls his friend "Jim" all the time; Kirk usually addresses the Doctor as "Bones". Similarly, even junior officers are permitted to call Lt. Cmdr. Scott simply "Scotty", and Kirk and McCoy both do so regularly. Ironically, Scotty himself always addresses his superiors by their title.

** A more specific example: in the episode "Whom Gods Destroy", Kirk keeps calling (the insane) former Captain Garth, "Captain Garth". Garth insists on "Lord Garth".

* On ''[[Enterprise]]'', even Tucker calls his best buddy "Captain" Archer.

* ''[[The West Wing]]'' did it in a [[Flash Back]], where a young Bartlet calls Mrs. Landingham, who was then his father's secretary, "Delores". She replies cheerfully, "Call me Mrs. Landingham, please." Later, when he's the President of the United States and she is his secretary, he still calls her Mrs. Landingham.

** The trope namer is also given a shout-out in the Season 2 finale.

* In ''[[Dragon Age]] Awakening'', there is an option to reply to Oghren's drunken 'Hey, you!' with 'That's Commander Hey You, by the way.'

* Inverted in [[Ar tonelico II: Melody of Metafalica]]. Cloche is painfully aware of her title and this is precisely why she doesn't want her closest friends using it. Everyone else, though, has to call her 'Lady' or 'Holy Maiden'.

 

'''Tchang Zu''': Shendu, you may call me, master.

'''Shendu''': Of course, "master". }}

{{quote|'''Woody:''' Wait a minute, you--you don't think I meant to knock Buzz out the window, do you, Potato Head?

'''Mr. Potato Head:''' That's ''Mister'' Potato Head to you, you back-stabbin' murderer! }}

* BDSM communities have conventions for address that can differ between regions, and is usually far more formal in online communities than at [[Real Life]] leather events. Addressing someone as 'Sir/Miss' can be an acknowledgment of their role and experience, an identifier of the speaker's submission, or simply a term of respect between peers. The titles 'Master/Mistress' refers to those with a more or less 24/7 power exchange relationship, ie, training a full-time submissive or slave. Many newbies to the scene mistakenly spread the term around, which may endear them to some Old School Dom(me)s, but usually is a source of amusement when applied to submissives and switches.

* It's SIR Ben Kingsley, and you'd better not forget it.

* German-speaking countries tend to be very serious about using the formal 'you' in conversation, to the point of it being a major milestone in a friendship when you know someone well enough to use the informal version with them. People who are next-door neighbors for twenty years will still often refer to each other as Herr and Frau so-and-so. Even married couples would refer to each other as "Herr X" and "Frau X" in front of others. German shops and other businesses do nowadays make a concession to Anglophone-style customer care: their employees do usually have name badges. However, as a rule, their name badges will always say include "Herr" or "Frau".

* In Sweden up until either 1875, everyone was supposed to use ''Ni'' (you in the sense it had before thou fell out of use) instead of titles, or the late '60s/early '70s, when people switched to ''Du'' (you in the familiar sense) and titles actually fell out of use, excepting a few special situations.

[[Category:Characterization Tropes]]

[[Category:Language Tropes]]