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

[Wilson Gray]

Larry wrote:

"The problem is that "forename" does sound a bit
odd, and would probably lead to comments like 'I
only have three'."

Aren't we talking about the *police*, here?

A TV-writer had a suspected perp sneeringly say to an ADA:

"'Three to five years'?! I've taken beatings lasted longer than that!"

In real life, though, I can't imagine that any ordinary citizen would
have the lack of common sense to smart off to a random street cop in
any manner, regardless of any alleged "presumption of innocence unless
proved guilty." Not quite the same as dealing with an ADA with your
lawyer present.

-Wilson

On Sat, Mar 27, 2010 at 9:59 AM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: No more "Christian name, sir?" in Kent, UK
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> At 11:17 AM +0000 3/27/10, Robin Hamilton wrote:
>>For once, I'm with the Kent force here (or whoever wrote the guidelines).
>>
>>A few years ago, I became personally (internally) uncomfortable with the
>>term "Christian name" -- while I have one, neither of my children do, since
>>neither were Christianed.  So I guess the term is more offensive to atheists
>>than to members of other religions.
>>
>>Actually, "offensive" is probably much too strong -- it's a case for me that
>>there's just this slight element of discomfort and disturbance.
>>
>>Simply, I'm more comfortable with the term "given name" -- more accurate (if
>>one can use the term in a lexical context, and risk the genetic fallacy),
>>and carries less ideological baggage, therefore a "natural" (?) replacement.
>>
>>(Apparently, I have just been informed, the official term is "forename".)
>
> If "prénom" is good enough for the French (as I
> recall from filling out all those cartes
> d'identité), it should be good enough for us.
> The problem is that "forename" does sound a bit
> odd, and would probably lead to comments like "I
> only have three".  There's always "first name",
> which is perhaps more accurate than either
> "Christian" or "given" name for the likes of
> Tiger Woods, Mark Twain, or Cary Grant, depending
> on the meaning of "given".
>
> As a non-Christian (by both lineage and
> (non-)belief), I do find "Christian name" a bit
> off-putting, more so than the relatively opaque
> "BC" and "AD" for dates, which I know others
> eschew.  (I guess opacifying "Before Christ" and
> "Anno Domini" to ease the discomfort of
> non-believers was an early instance of the "KFC"
> model).
>
> LH
>
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--
-Wilson
–––
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"––a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
–Mark Twain

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