Sir of - date courteous treatment. What it meant and when it was used

Man is a social being and without communication cannot exist. And any communication starts from the treatment, it is desirable to use a polite form to address to the interlocutor. To date, the conversation with strangers begins with the words "male", "female", "girl", "dear", "lady", "uncle" and the like, which in essence are not the rules of etiquette.

Another option for beginning a conversation with a stranger can be a pass-treatment, in this case, the conversation begins with phrases like "be kind (kind)," "excuse me" and the like, which by and large also don't sound very polite. And in the relatively recent past, some hundred years ago, in order to start a conversation, you can use the respectful address, "sir" or "Madam".

MA'am and sir

MA'am and sir, respectively, female and male forms of respectful treatment, which are commonly used in pre-revolutionary Russia until the beginning of anti-government protests in 1917. For convenience, hereinafter we use the masculine form of treatment, implying that all this applies equally to the feminine form of the given word.

Respectfully appeal “sir” occurred while reducing the word "sovereign" by dropping the first syllable. These two terms, etiquette is a case to have the same meaning, and the literal interpretation of the word "sovereign" and "sir" is a hospitable host.

In some cases, used this treatment?

Sir - this treatment, which is used to emphasize respect for the other person. Mostly it is used in relation to the intelligentsia, the higher strata of society - people of "noble blood" or noble origin. As a rule, persons not belonging to aristocratic families, even being financially secure (e.g., merchants), this treatment is not used. But for them in Imperial Russia there was etiquette for the treatment of, for example, the word "kind".

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This word in the same way as the terms "Lord", "lady" and "lady" is used when needed to refer to someone without naming name. To address someone by name, like today, used the words "sir" and "Madam."

Appropriate treatment "sir" today?

After the revolution of 1917, all treatment that is applied to the intelligentsia, were withdrawn from use, and they were replaced by common words "citizen" and "comrade", which are widely used today in various fields. For example, the word "comrade" is widely used in the Armed forces. The treatment of "sir" ("Madam") was also stable, but it is personified, and is used only to a specific person stating their name. But with regard to the words "sir" – today, the archaic. And if the media or literature of the present time, this word is used, it is likely that the author used it to Express irony or a smile.

As you can see, historically, in the Russian speech etiquette gone courteous treatment of strangers: the word "citizen" sounds too formal, "comrade" - quickly became obsolete with the demise of the Soviet Union. And although in other countries there are polite forms of address like "sir", "Mr.", "Mr.", "pan", in modern Russia the replacement of obsolete "sir" and "Madam" has not been invented yet.