A line from the show "The West Wing" went something like this: "Please, Reverend, call me 'Mr. President'. It's not that I need you to stroke my ego, it's that

A line from the show "The West Wing" went something like this: "Please, Reverend, call me 'Mr. President'. It's not that I need you to stroke my ego, it's that in this job I have to make some difficult choices that can be uncomfortable to me personally, and I would like you to emphasize the office rather than the person holding it" As a Scandinavian, all honorifics, including "Mr." etc. sound weird, but that was a great explanation for why some people would like one.