First names

[Beverly Flanigan]

Uhh, what's 'filk'? and 'fen'?  Maybe I've missed something?  (I think I
get 'congoer'.)

At 05:22 PM 4/12/02 -0400, you wrote:
>As a default working policy I try not to use people's first names unless
>they've been introduced to me that way or have invited me to do so.
>Often I get "Oh, call me <first name>" in response. But it's
>situational, of necessity. F'rex, this evening I'm going with my wife to
>a coffee (though I won't drink caffeine after dinner if I want to sleep
>that night) with a group of neighbors; I expect to have lots of "Mark,
>this is Fran Ferguson", and I'll say "Pleased to meet you, Fran".
>
>Similarly, at science fiction and filk conventions first names are
>normal. Hm, two exceptions spring to mind. One is panelists or such who
>are appearing in some professional capacity, and whom I meet
>asymmetrically as congoer (me) to program participant (them); I *think*
>I'm likely to apply my default policy unless they've already established
>first name for the audience. The other is badge names. I mean, if
>somebody's name badge says "Badger" (as is the case with two fen I
>know), that's what they want to be called!
>
>-- Mark A. Mandel, The Filker With No Nickname
>      http://world.std.com/~mam/filk.html
>      (And Interfilk Guest for Consonance 2003, woo-hoo!)


_____________________________________________
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