The use of first names has undergone a cultural transformation in the last three or four decades, so that by now the use of honorifics and last names is nearly extinct. It's not just the telemarketer on the other end of the phone who calls you by your first name. I have had parents introduce me to their six-year-old child with the words, "This is Charles," requiring me to choke back an overwhelming urge to pat the little one on the head and say, "But you may call me Sir."
I blame this misbegotten use of first names on the baby boomers. Frightened of being grown-ups since they were in college, they have shied from anything that reminds them they're not kids anymore.
-Charles Murray, as excerpted from The Curmudgeon's Guide to Getting Ahead: Dos and Don'ts of Right Behavior, Tough Thinking, Clear Writing, and Living A Good Life
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