4 ms·
This would seem easily avoidable if people reverted back to using only last names [1] and an honorific, as was once common in the Western world. Mr. Smith, Ms.
by keiferski 3y ago
This would seem easily avoidable if people reverted back to using only last names [1] and an honorific, as was once common in the Western world. Mr. Smith, Ms. Jones, etc.
1. I mean family names here
- robobro 3y agoBy last name, you mean family name, right? In Indonesia we always use an honorific followed by a person's preferred name. Very simple!
- keiferski 3y agoYes, family name, my mistake.
- JimDabell 3y agoThat doesn’t work if the culture in question doesn’t use family names. For instance Malays use their given name followed by their father’s given name. Would you really refer to somebody as “Mr [their father’s given name]”?
- keiferski 3y agoHmm, well reading the Wikipedia indicates that bin is used, which is similar to Arabic. It doesn’t seem that odd to call someone Mr. bin Osman. However the article does say that it’s considered rude to call someone by their father’s name in Malay culture. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malaysian_names https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malaysian_names
- jhbadger 3y agoThat's actually how Western family names originally worked in part -- that's why things like Richardson and Johnson are common nanes (Richard's son and John's son). Of course other ones also came from professions like Smith, Baker, Cooper (maker of barrels), etc.
- tamimio 3y agoAgree, I do that all the time, I also feel it is a little more respectful to call someone by their family name rather than just name. Additionally, it’s better in terms of privacy in the internet, less phishing and social engineering attacks.
- Longlius 3y agoPeople never exclusively used family names in the western world, at least not the way you imagine.
- keiferski 3y agoI didn't mean "exclusively" as in they didn't have a first name, just that they were referred to by their last names in public settings. Even a few decades ago, it was still somewhat informal to refer to strangers by their first names. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlzm7-gvTRg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlzm7-gvTRg Thought that was obvious from the context in the article, which is about political leaders.
- anotheruser13 3y agoI wouldn't care for that. I'm tired of being "ma'amed" to death. I'm a native Chicagoan, currently living in Texas. The US southern of calling one's (elders?) Miss <Firstname>/Mr <Firstname> confuses me, since I don't know the conventions....