Don't apologise, I find this very interesting. Since I'm probably the last person in the Western world who's NOT interested in Japanese culture and language, I didn't know any of this stuff. But, yes, the -san and -sama thing was what I meant.
Somehow that reminds me of general formalities when you address someone. In French it's perfectly normal (and borderline impolite if you don't do it) to address people with "Monsieur", "Madame", "Mademoiselle" (e.g. if you go into a shop, at least in a halfway classy shop, employees will not greet you with "Bonjour", but with "Bonjour, monsieur/..."). Monsieur+last name is used relatively rarely even with people you know, unless of course you need the name to make it clear who you're talking to. Students say only "Monsieur"/"Madame" to their teachers. In Germany, it's the other way around. We always use Herr/Frau+last name when we know the person's name (unless we're on first names, obviously), and if we don't we usually say nothing. We had things like "gnädiger Herr"/"gnädige Dame", but if you use that today people will give you EXTREMELY funny looks. There are a few less formal replacement forms, but none of them is widely accepted. Also, nobody says "Fräulein" anymore to unmarried women, it's always "Frau" (while the French still happily use "Mademoiselle", and unmarried French women actually insist on being called that and not "Madame"). You say "Fräulein" to a German woman, and chances are she'll hit you for being a macho. ;)
Re: That's a Bingo on Languages. :-)
Somehow that reminds me of general formalities when you address someone. In French it's perfectly normal (and borderline impolite if you don't do it) to address people with "Monsieur", "Madame", "Mademoiselle" (e.g. if you go into a shop, at least in a halfway classy shop, employees will not greet you with "Bonjour", but with "Bonjour, monsieur/..."). Monsieur+last name is used relatively rarely even with people you know, unless of course you need the name to make it clear who you're talking to. Students say only "Monsieur"/"Madame" to their teachers.
In Germany, it's the other way around. We always use Herr/Frau+last name when we know the person's name (unless we're on first names, obviously), and if we don't we usually say nothing. We had things like "gnädiger Herr"/"gnädige Dame", but if you use that today people will give you EXTREMELY funny looks. There are a few less formal replacement forms, but none of them is widely accepted. Also, nobody says "Fräulein" anymore to unmarried women, it's always "Frau" (while the French still happily use "Mademoiselle", and unmarried French women actually insist on being called that and not "Madame"). You say "Fräulein" to a German woman, and chances are she'll hit you for being a macho. ;)
... rant.