[rodric]

> The V is gradually being dropped in Spain and in the last few decades the process seems to have accelerated

I own a Spanish textbook printed (in English) in 1958 that says about «usted»: ‘It is the universal respectful address of society, and the only one the foreigner is ever likely to employ or hear addressed to him, unless he marries a native or forms intimate friendships.’ How times have changed!

[freedomben]

This is what I was taught as well when taking Spanish 30 years ago. Fast forward 20 years and me visiting Mexico City for the first time, and I got some really strange looks using usted