Proper Address

No, the address I am talking abt is NOT the mailing address...its how we address pple: eg. "Mr Who&Who", "Ms Whatsoever", the informal "Alan", "Jane" or the rude "A!"

Was thinking of this topic in the morning and remembered an incident in my childhood when I was scolded by a teacher for being rude. I was in primary 2 or 3 then and u know how kids are like - we like to give teachers pet names...erm, some nice some nasty names :P Well, there was this teacher then, I remember her name is "Low Mei Ling"...as she was a bit fierce, we like to imitate her and call her full name instead of addressing her as the proper "Ms Low"...but of coz tat was among ourselves lah. One fine day, she came in for our class and while we were greeting her, I made a blunder and blurted out "Good morning Ms Low Mei Ling!" Wah, the instant the name came out in full, I knew I was in deep shit! (Ok, for a primary 2 or 3 student to know she is in deep shit must be something deemed really serious then). Ms Low indeed gave me a scolding and said that it is rude to call someone's name in full and I was punished to stand up the whole of tat lesson. Haha...imagine wat impact tat incident had on me for me to remember all the details :P

Now think...issit really rude to call someone's name in full, eg. "Mr Tan Ah Kow"? Then why is it that we call all the actors/actresses, singers, idols, and even public/political figures by their full names? For eg, is calling "Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong" rude? If it is, the media will be condemned for their rudeness towards our public figures.

Just recalled this other instant when my good friend, Jenny, told me how she disliked one of her ex-colleague for addressing her full name whenever talking to her or abt her. Jenny felt tat it was really rude of tat ex-colleague to do tat.

So, the question is "IS IT REALLY RUDE TO ADDRESS OTHERS BY THEIR FULL NAMES?"