Quote:
Originally Posted by Paslode
Honest to god, aside from the first 'N' word (which I understand the reasoning) I am not quite sure how to properly address that particular segment of the population because they do not appear to know, they have yet come to a consensus or it is subject to change without notice and/or it is ever evolving.
|
FWIW, one of the first things Laura Nader taught undergraduates in her painful introductory course to cultural anthropology was that to build rapport one should call a person or a group what they liked to be called.
Because of that lesson, I take the time to find out if James wants to be called "James," "Jim," or "Jimmy" and if Margaret prefers to be called "Peggy." And if either only want their friends to call them "Jimmy" and "Peggy," I'll call them James and Margaret until invited to do otherwise.*
Then again, during the last years of the late century, a professor, apparently aware of my habit of addressing faculty members formally, invited me to call him by his Christian name. I grinned and said, "Sir, that's just not the way I roll." After all, rapport isn't a one way street.
(Besides, the guy wore Birkenstocks. There's no fracking way I'm going to develop a first-name type relationship with a professor who wears Birkentstocks. Don't get me started.)
_______________________________
* If only James V. Forrestal had had this sensibility, his relationships with the navy's senior officers may not have been so turbulent. (He habitually called admirals by their USNA nicknames without their let.)
Linear Mode
