Okay Dave, Please stop this storyline now. This is not funny. No really, I see you getting ready to explain why this is hilarious to me, but it just isn't. This was funny once during the first comic on the twentieth. But to drag it out all week is just beating a dead horse. If Sheldon was truly raised to respect old people, why can't he just let it go? It's just a stupid little joke to make himself feel better. Why does he have to go and be a pedantic little dork that has to over analyze this when it's quite obvious Mr. Jenkins wasn't serious. It's almost like Sheldon has to crush Mr. Jenkins spirit just to prove a point.
Anybody else annoyed at this?

Not annoyed particularly, but when someone whips out that line, in person or in comic, I have the same thought every time: Southerners long since solved this problem, dammit - pay attention! :)

When we moved from extreme North (Minnesota) to extreme South (Louisiana), I quickly found out there were two levels of respectful address to adults. Those in obvious authority over you, or you didn't know well, were Mr./Ms. Lastname (and whether a woman was married or not didn't seem to change Ms. a bit). People like your parents' friends - or your friends' parents - were Mr/Ms. Firstname. So you were still being respectful, but also showing that this wasn't just some stranger off the street to you. It still seems like an amazingly elegant solution to me, and I missed it when I went back North.

Well, I am laughing my ass off at this series of comics. Why not? My last name -IS- Jenkins!! The funny thing is, when people call my wife "Mrs. Jenkins", she always says "ummm, no, thats my husbands dead mother".