More than 'close attention' in Chinese languages - every term of address is a signifier of your relationship with that person, with the rule of thumb being that

More than 'close attention' in Chinese languages - every term of address is a signifier of your relationship with that person, with the rule of thumb being that you can only address people by name if they are equal or lower in social hierarchy, which is essentially based on age. Anyone who is 'superior' to you in hierarchy must be addressed by title, which is contextual to your relationship to that person and often times only used in that relationship. i/e my (younger) cousin addresses me as 'second-older-brother-cousin'. She is the only one that does, or can