SIGNIFICANT OTHER: Increasingly Significant Issue

[Beverly Flanigan]

At 08:09 PM 4/11/02 -0400, you wrote:
>At 6:05 PM -0400 4/11/02, Beverly Flanigan wrote:
>>But far more common is first-name address, which really bugs me.  I answer
>>irately, "How dare you call me Beverly?  You don't know me!"  Talk about
>>getting off on the wrong foot....
>Well, for some of us it streamlines the conversational ritual.  As
>soon as someone says "Hello, Laurence", I know it's a telemarketer
>and I'm ready to hang up.
>
>L

Likewise with the rare "Hello, Mrs. Fla-, uh, Fal-, uh, Falnagan...."
(Unless I stop to say "It's a simple Irish name, for God's sake"--then I
hang up.)

_____________________________________________
Beverly Olson Flanigan         Department of Linguistics
Ohio University                     Athens, OH  45701
Ph.: (740) 593-4568              Fax: (740) 593-2967
http://www.cats.ohiou.edu/linguistics/dept/flanigan.htm