So anyways I was in the shower, for some reason hot running water is so relaxing that I often forget where I am and just stand and think for quite a while, and I came to realize that I hardly will ever use a term of respect. I don't ever use sir or ma'am. I'll use Mr. Doe or Professor Smith, etc but I don't often use anything else.

Being in an introspective mood I've found that more than likely its because for the most part I view everybody as equals, because everybody will teach you something. There is always opportunity to learn from somebody no mater their age, position or qualifications. So in this train of thought everybody I know I treat as an elder naturally, and to arbitrarily assign one person a title and not another would in retrospect be highly disrespectful of the later.

Now if everybody is an elder then it is not a large leap to say that everybody is a peer. I of course would never mean disrespect towards a peer either, so really in my mind the terms are superfluous. Of course I will address somebody in a more formalized fashion using their earned title, but for the most part that's the extent of it. However, I always try to use a persons name, I don't create nicknames for people, I don't shorten names, or mispronounce them (well other then occasionally when my tongue doesn't seem to move right and everything comes out screwed up), so I guess in my mind that's the extent of how I address the need for respect in language, by acknowledging each and everyone's distinct designation.