Ask Amy: Cowboy needs to wrangle human predators
After turning 75, things suddenly changed: My first name is “Marilyn” and I’m now called “Miss Marilyn” by store clerks, receptionists, salespeople, dental hygienists, nurses, accountants, drug store employees and more!
Anyone who has sight of my name immediately calls me “Miss Marilyn!”
It makes me feel demeaned and diminished.
Have I fallen into a Twilight Zone of Old Age Names? Am I the new title actor in “Driving Miss Daisy”? Am I destined to be called by a name I don’t like?
Can you help?
— NOT Miss Marilyn
Dear Marilyn: I assume this practice originates in the American South. I also assume that many elders do like it.
I infer that it would not bother you if people referred to you either by your first name alone, or as “Miss” or “Ms” and your last name — but you feel condescended to or marginalized when called “Miss Marilyn.”
Understand, however, that many people have been raised with the understanding that anyone old enough to be their parent (or older) should be addressed using an honorific. This is well-meaning.
Where they fail is when they place it in front of your first name, instead of your surname.
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