No more "Christian name, sir?" in Kent, UK

[Dan Goodman]

The two Chinese I'm most likely to talk with (owner-operators of a
convenience store in Minneapolis) give their names as "Joe" and "Ann."

Judy Prince wrote:
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Judy Prince <jbalizsprince at GOOGLEMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: No more "Christian name, sir?" in Kent, UK
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Indeed, Joel.
>
> I'm familiar with some spoken (Beijing-hwa) and written Chinese.  Typically,
> I've found that the Chinese know well that our "first name, last name" is
> the reverse of their "family name, 'given name'".  Hence, they are not
> confused about our names, but we are Very Confused with theirs since not
> only do few USAmericans know the Chinese tradition of placing the family
> name first, but few of us speak Chinese, (though many Chinese speak
> English), so we gather no clues from the names as to their "family-ness" or
> "given name-ness".  Often, a Chinese will introduce herself here using our
> tradition.
>
> As some people would say:  "Another example of American exceptionalism."
>
> Best,
>
> Judy
>
>
>
> On 27 March 2010 19:39, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:
>
>
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>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
>> Subject:      Re: No more "Christian name, sir?" in Kent, UK
>>
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> At 3/27/2010 07:59 AM, Judy Prince wrote:
>>
>>> "First name" works nicely.
>>>
>> But, like "forename", not for the traditional Chinese and several
>> other cultures (when they're giving their name in answer to being
>> questioned in English).
>>
>> Joel
>>
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>
>
> --
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>
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Dan Goodman
"I have always depended on the kindness of stranglers."
Tennessee Williams, A Streetcar Named Expire
Journal dsgood.dreamwidth.org (livejournal.com, insanejournal.com)

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