Miss Manners would shoot me

[dragonyphoenix]

Or whomever the British version of Miss Manners is would. So I have a Watcher, about Wesley's age, and he's interviewing Diedre Page. Would he think of her / call her Diedre or Miss Page or something else that I haven't even thought of?

Edit: They are having tea at the house of a neighbor of Deidre Page. Oh heck, the scene has been posted for Taming the Muse so you can take a look. I switch between Deidre and Miss Page largely because I wasn't sure which he'd go with.

Comments

[velvetwhip.livejournal.com]

I am pretty sure he would call her Miss/Ms. Page. I know that in a professional setting, I always address people formally until given express permission to do otherwise.


Gabrielle

[dragonyphoenix.livejournal.com]

My character, Cecil, is intimate with Deidre Page's neighbor, whom I've named Isla. They are all at Isla's house having tea.

I also think Miss Page, but it's not a professional setting. Deidre Page is old enough to be his mother. I think of Cecil as S3 Wesley, and it just seems as if Wesley would be that formal in that situation.

[feliciacraft.livejournal.com]

I, too, would go with Miss Page in this case.

[dragonyphoenix.livejournal.com]

Thanks.

[gillo]

Definitely Miss Page unless she explicitly invites him to use her first name. The age gap alone would suggest this. Watchers would on the whole err on the formal side, so he might struggle even after an invitation, which she might find amusing. We very, very rarely use Ms in speech, BTW.

[dragonyphoenix.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much. I thought it might be Miss Page but I personally am not formal so it also seemed odd to me.

he might struggle even after an invitation, which she might find amusing. Eeeeee. Love that!

[gillo]

I have former pupils in their late 30s who really struggle to call me Gill!

To be honest, I always introduce myself to fellow-students etc as "Gill" and assume they will call me that. If you want him to use her first name have her introduce herself - but he would feel distinctly uncomfortable if he didn't know her surname. I'm assuming Council-trained Watchers would all be a little over-formal.

[snogged.livejournal.com]

I would say Miss Page or Madame. Wesley is definitely the formal type.

[dragonyphoenix.livejournal.com]

Thanks. I think so too, but I wasn't completely confident because it's pretty much the opposite of how I'd behave.