Is it just me or did anyone else really hate being called 'brother' / 'sister' as a TBM? I just found it so nineteenth century and Amish-like.

Equally annoying was when a group of 'brothers' would be addressed as 'brethren'. I'm still on the local stake leadership email group distribution list (provides endless amusement and some juicy inside info) and everyone uses the term 'brethren'.

Even as a TBM I would purposefully not use the brother/sister terminology and would just call other members by their first names..... I know some people hated this and one or two picked me up on it, much to my amusement. Of course I just ignored their request.

If missionaries attending a dinner appointment at my house would address me as 'brother .......' I would politely ask then to please call me by my first name.

Maybe it was just me that hated this mormon cultural oddity so much?

Yes. I hated it.
I mean I always thought we had lovely first names so why not use them. And I always felt using first names gave more opportunity to forge real friendships then to use the dreadful terms of brother/sister (frère/soeur in my case, or hermano/hermana during my mission).
So that was a time I would be a rebel until someone 'in authority' would tell me to use brother/sister, then I would but just for a very short time because usually it made my skin crawl.
And I would go back to use first names.

One thing nice I have to say about Bishop Jackwagon is he always called me CA girl, not Sister CA girl and I always called him Bob (except when I called him that Jack@ss in the privacy of my home. But mostly I called him Bob - not Bishop.)

The sister/brother thing is just one more thing that non-LDS think is weird and Mormons see as normal or admirable. And if you want to freak out a Mormon, don't call them Bob ... call them Mr. or Mrs. Jackwagon. They REALLY can't handle that.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/18/2013 07:48PM by CA girl.

Hated it too. I don't think I ever called anyone bro.or sis. I saw it as a way of faking closeness that didn't exist. The second thing I hated about it is that there are often several male family members in the same ward (women too). Try calling on bro. or sis. smith to close the meeting with a prayer and have three people in the room that fit that description. Stupid. Once there was a stake person who gave us a lecture on referring to the stake president as "president". Didn't happen, sorry. Ever happen in a public place like Walmart? Hey bro. smith, how is your testimony. Stupid morons.

Why not ask the missionaries to call you by your secret temple name?

How 'bout this one:

When my elderly cousin(60s) was on her mission with her hubby in Ireland recently, my cuz would write lengthy emails back to us in the States. She called her hubby, "Elder So and So" ...

WTF?

The first time around I tried to go to college, one of my professors was in the SP presidency of the stake I was in. We were on a first name basis always (as everyone was in his department with all students), even at church. It was a very unusual situation, to say the least.

So, since we are all brothers and sisters, is it Brother Jesus and Brother Lucifer?