In English the difference was between 'thee' and 'thou' until a couple
of hundred years ago when they morphed into 'you' in common usage. Some
Quakers still maintain the distinction.

CK wrote:
Marina wrote:


I suppose our culture is just much more relaxed here in Scandinavia.
Everyone uses first names, and hardly ever do you hear a Mr or Mrs,
not to
mention a Professor or a Sir/Madam (I don't even think we have that
kind of
words in Swedish or Finnish). I was on first-name basis with my
teachers at
university from day one. At work everyone, from the head of the
department
to every part-time teacher, are on first-name basis with each other. The
only time you use last names is to avoid confusion if there are several
people with the same first name. I've never worked in the corporate
world,
but as I understand it, the same goes there.


I work "in the corporate world" and it's first names galore here too
fairly high "up the ladder", except I don't think I'd address any of the
big directors by their first names, as I don't meet them on a daily
basis and they wouldn't know who I am. Can't expect them to know names
and faces of thousands of employees, now can you? I'd address the
biggies with Director last name, would "read the situation" from there
on, whether to use the "formal you" (teititellä, ni-form, siezen,
vouvoyer(sp?)), or the "familiar you" (sinutella, du-form, duzen, tutoyer).