Formal salutation of a servant to a child?

Question

Let's say I have someone like Alfred Pennyworth. Such a person would obviously address the man and woman of the house as "Sir" and "Madam". (For example, "Would sir care for a beverage?")

How could this hypothetical person address a very small child?

The "traditional" answer seems to be "master <name>", but this seems really odd for a really young (possibly only just learning to talk) child. In Spanish, it would be "señorito" rather than "señor", but I'm not aware of a direct English equivalent.

The best I've been able to come up with is "the boy". Is there anything else, or am I stuck with either "master" or "the boy"?

Matthew · Accepted Answer

Wow, I can't believe I didn't think of this until now...
"Madame", obviously, comes from "my dame (lady)", "milord" (and variants) from "my lord"...
...so what's a boy? A lad. So, the address "my lad" (or "milad", or "m'lad") could work. (For a girl, this would of course by "m'lass".) There is, of course, Scottish precedent for this.
Another option, if some neologizing is permitted, would be to look to the French roots of such expressions, from which we might derive "monfils" ("my son") or "monjeune" ("my youth" / "my youngster"). In this case, the address for adults should probably stick to the more fully French "monsieur" and "madame".

Greybeard · Answer

Such a person would obviously address the man and woman of the house as "Sir" and "Madam". (For example, "Would sir care for a beverage?")

Obviously you do not have servants in the UK. That is not how a butler would address his employer today. A good butler will provide the drink without being asked or an ordinary one will wait until asked. The use of "Sir", is not necessary, neither is the stilted "care for".

How could this hypothetical person address a very small child?

By its name: "Hello, John, your father says it's time for bed."

Formal salutation of a servant to a child?

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