This to Katherine Teague...you're among the first to pick up on a
deliberate writer's choice in the writing of the series. In looking toward
the period of B5, I tried to construct a society that had to come together
on a planetary scale to fight a war for simple survival. My thinking was,
"Okay, let's assume that formality has come back into vogue; clothes tend
not to be revealing, lines are more streamlined or severe, people address
each other or refer to each other formally ("Mr. Isogi," "Ms. Winters," and
so on).

I suppose a conservative could derive some satisfaction from this
choice...though to quote Mephistophilis in "Faustus"......"Aye, think so
still, 'till experience change thy mind."

jms