to think that referring to all family friends as Uncle/Auntie is odd and confusing.

[Momdeguerre]

I appreciate it is not going to destory the moral fibre of society but I object to being referred to as 'Auntie' by all and sundry or to people who call any family/tenuous friend Auntie/Uncle.

No objection for relatives or even very close friends/god children etc but I don't like the habit of all friends being given this moniker. E.g. my mum's neighbours daughter - who I have can't have met more than twice asks her DS to refer to me as 'Auntie'.. . . .

We bicker about this. DH starts calling all his friends Uncle Joe/TOm/DIck/Harry to the children. I only want our closest friends to be so it would be the ones who are in fact Godparents to our children.

I love it, not for all adults but for my close frineds.

My kids are well aware who are real aunties ahd who are kid on ones

I guess I am FAQ if that's ok with you!

I'm sure most sociologists would argue that you can't just dismiss it especially given it's role in defining so many cultures as we know them today

cor talk about ME over-thinking this FAQ!

I am dismissing it for ME

ta

It was the norm in Sweden when I grew up.

I suspect what it is is that there are communities- or sections of class- in this country where it is the habit in the same natural way as in the Caribbean or the Scandinavia of 30 years ago, but if you do not belong to that group it will feel odd. Imho the most respectful way is to express respect in the same way as the people you happen to be along. Which meant I had to give up curtseying to my elders when I visited this country as a child

When we first had DS1, DH started saying 'look its auntie jenny' when friends turned up and I took an immediate hatred to it. no idea why! stamped it out immediately as i found it so irritating
i have a couple of 'aunties' from when i was young that are relatives but not strictly aunties and that is fine, but not friends we see a couple of times a year, thats just odd!

This was totally the norm for close family friends when I was a kid. I like it, it's sweet.

I've got a huge sprawling, extended family, loads of genuine Aunts/Uncles/Cousins but also loads of more distant relatives, Great Aunts, 2nd cousins, inlaws etc and then long standing family friends, all of whom were called Aunty/Uncle.

I like being part of this huge support network not quite knowing where blood ends and friendship begins.

Totally the norm for me as a child, all my parent's friends were Auntie X or Uncle Y.

Not the case now for people I know except for the odd case of what you might call 'adopted' aunties (very close friends who take on that role, do loads of childcare etc).

I don't see any problem with it though, wouldn't mind if someone wanted to call me Auntie Takver.

I do discourage my dd from calling her real uncle 'Uncle Joe' though because it always makes me think of Stalin!