ESL Blogs

Sometimes back, someone here suggested me to write an explanatory blog about Sir and Mr, and I promised that I would do.

Blog is a little bit informative.

Courtesy and manners is a very essential thing, especially when we interact with other people. So words like hello, thank you, excuse me, please ... etc, etc, are the unwritten alphabet of showing good manners.

Yet, there is also another aspect, it can be by addressing another person by their name or when we are interacting with a person who is elder than us that we title them - Like uncle, auntie, Sir, Mr... etc, etc.

In some cultures, we don't address persons whom are elder than us by their names. It is an act of showing respect. Like, I could never dream of addressing my parents by their names.

Now, going back to the title of blog, what is then the story of Sir and Mr?

Sometimes we unintentionally mix up some terms and titles, so did I... but I stopped after I came to know their right context. Explanations follows, please be patient.

Sir, who is he;

A title of respect for some notable personage of ancient times. Written with initial capital letter like - Sir Maximilian of Troy.

A title often used as the distinctive title of a knight or baronet. Written with initial capital letter like - Sir Nicolai Scott.

A respectful or formal term of address used to a man. Written with small letter if written in the middle of a sentence like - sir. If you want to address a person this way, the correct way is just to use sir, not followed by the particular persons name.

And ...,

Mr, who is he;

A title of respect prefixed to a man's name or position.

Mr, is more commonly used in daily language usage. Therefore if you want to respectfully address another person, this is the more preferable and correct term to use.

Now, to sum it all up, you can call someone "Sir" or "Mr Maximilian", but not Sir Maximilian - unless they have a knighthood from the Queen of England.

I hope this was useful and you learned a little bit about using those two terms in their right and proper context.

"If you don't care to respect yourself.
You can never have any courtesy for anybody else.
For courtesy and good manners are a matter of heart.
Some people just ain't got.
But in the spirit of just common courtesy,
little things mean a lot."

Thank you for reading.

**Note: Dictionary.com - Help was taken from there to write this post.