Question 4 U Luvly Americans

I live in the UK and often on American TV programmes I notice people address each other by their
surname. i.e Jones, Hobbs, Belton etc.

I wondered if this was a wrong TV portrayal, or if Americans do refer to each other by their
surnames especially in the work place. Or does it just depend on where you work?

Just curious

If you don't mind me asking which shows?

Usually dramas like police, detective, hospital shows. But also some of the older shows like Little House on the prairy and Waltons

Well a lot of times on the police shows and dramas like that they will address the person by their surname. I think they do in real life too. Only in positions like that though. Like you would call your doctor Dr. Jones rather Dr. John. I think the same can be said for police officers too. I don't really know about Little House on the Praire and The Waltons cause I don't watch those. I prefer old shows like Andy Griffith, Bewitched, Bonanza, and The Munsters. (which you may or may not have heard of...I recommend them though cause they are the comedies if you like comedy stuff) Anyways, sorry to talk about me, but back to the topic. Of the different jobs my parents have had not once have I ever heard them address a superior or coworker by their last name so like I said it probably depends upon the position held. It also probably depends on the person too. Some might prefer to be called by their surname or if you have two Johns with different surnames call one John and the other by their surname.

Sorry for the long reply....hope I helped.

news shows music shows.
Big Brother,Dancing With the Stars,Duets,The Voice.
Date lime 20/20 NightLine,What Would You Do 60 Minutes.

We usually use people's first names.

I live in the midwest and we use first names pretty much all the time.

Hi thanks folks, i suppose it will be the same for most countries.

At my very first job from leaving school, the Managing Director was called Mr... etc but everyone else got called by their first name.

I have had a few jobs since then where everyone called each other by their first name. Most have been in the private/commercial sector, although my current job is a civil servent working for a Government Dpt (well someone's got to do it!) Even the very top bosses are called by their first name in my current job.

But I suppose there will be certain professions where surnames are used.

Yeah, on the average Americans will use first names, but definately in professions like police and military oriented jobs, in real life, they tend to use last names, or surnames. Hospitals not so much, except maybe with doctors. And dramas, i'm guessing maybe like law shows, so perhaps in legal settings it may be more common as well to use last names.