Luncheon on the Couch

[DCrom]

So, I just wanted to say, I think I now understand tal's
request for less informality.

I think it's perfectly reasonable for someone to request that their name isn't shortened, it's their name after all and it's only respectful and polite to address someone as they wish to be addressed (as long as they're not nuts and want to be called Lord Spunkypants or something).

Naming conventions across cultures are a strange beast though. In a previous life I had a lot of dealings with Korean users of an application for a very large oil company and they had an amusing, and slightly irritating, habit of calling us by our surnames Didn't bother me so much but some people had surnames which didn't make for very flattering first names and they got quite annoyed in the end.

I think that I'd rather enjoy obliging anyone who requested being called "Lord Spunkypants". But I doubt I'd be able to keep a straight face while doing so.

More seriously, I think a lot of us prefer to use a shorter form of unfamiliar names because we worry about remembering and pronouncing them correctly if they are too long.

We tend to shorten even long familiar names for ease of use (how many people do you know named "Jonathon", "Alexander", or "Elizabeth" who go by "Jon", "Alex", or "Beth"), but most of us can remember to use the full name if asked - it's in our memory files and doesn't require a lot of thought.

But even easy-to-pronounce Indian names (most of them, for English speakers) don't trigger a "familiar" response - because it is (or appears to be) a unique name, it's harder for us to remember without a lot of repetition. Especially spelling them - our corporate email system uses firstname.lastname@companyname.com as the default naming system. But we're a global company, and even in our home office we have people from all over the world - in practice, it means that even for people I know well I need to use the address book to make sure I spell their name right.

I suspect the issue you mention with Korean users may be something even simpler - I believe that Korea, like China, uses "family personal" rather than our "personal family" name order. Complicating things is that some of our Korean customers, knowing this, will reverse their usual name order when communicating with English speakers, while others won't. And they have the same confusion about us (I have a number of Korean customers who seem to think that my given name was "Crom" - and one even made the connection to the Conan movies & asked me why Der Governator was calling my name so often ) So there's a chance that they really thought that the correct personal name was "Spunkypants".

[fearfaoin]

fear has tried to come with an ethnic focussed justification for my position little realising that his post has links to wiki article which is spurious and quite misleading in its assertions about the application of the Sanskrit derived "deshi".

Not a justification, I just wanted to relate an interesting
development that made me think of you, wondering if I had found
a common dislike for the nicknaming process... If not, then back
to the drawing board.
I merely posted the Wikipedia articles because I didn't want to
have to explain the word. Though, that article is consistant with
its usage by the Indian ex-pats in America on H1-B visas (at
least, those that I'm aquanted with). But surely you know that
accusing a Wikipedia article of being spurious and misleading
is akin to accusing water of being wet.

Further, he fails to recognise that "talasiga" is a name from the Fijian language.

You have the better of me there, yes. Though, I'm not sure how
that relates to your personal attitudes vis-a-vis appellation
attenuation. Help me out.

Naming conventions across cultures are a strange beast though. In a previous life I had a lot of dealings with Korean users of an application for a very large oil company and they had an amusing, and slightly irritating, habit of calling us by our surnames Didn't bother me so much but some people had surnames which didn't make for very flattering first names and they got quite annoyed in the end.

My Indic colleague also mentioned that it is very common to
use surnames to address someone who is not a family member.
American football coaches and drill sergeants do it, too.

[Cynth]

Being a literal-minded person, my remarks will be confined to the topic of talasiga's lunch. It is much too hot and humid here to think of eating something like stew, especially for lunch. Also, I lie on my bed and read while I eat lunch so I need foods that are easily conveyed to the mouth without possible dripping or problems caused by inaccurate aim. A couple of months ago I decided to make some improvements in my eating. The problem was thinking of healthy foods that I liked. But I finally came up with some things that sounded good to me. So today for lunch I will have raw green peppers, raw carrots, cashews, whole-grain corn crackers, cherries, and whole-grain ginger biscotti. My lunch is big so that I feel satisfied and don't start thinking ice cream and candy bars. Crunchy things seem to make me feel more satisfied too. As long as I have everything easily accessible without having to wash and cut things up when I'm hungry, the plan works quite well. Some days I have cheese and crackers and some days humus and pita bread. I don't feel foods need to be raw, it's just that I can't stand to cook.

Sincerely, Mister Cynth

[chrisoff]

My Indic colleague also mentioned that it is very common to
use surnames to address someone who is not a family member.
American football coaches and drill sergeants do it, too.

Most of my friends do it too, makes life easier when you know 3 or 4 Andrews, Davids, Chris', Steves etc. Although another reason I probably get it is because I have an identical twin and it's easier for someone to say our surname rather than go for the first name and guess the wrong brother

[fearfaoin]

Although another reason I probably get it is because I have an identical twin and it's easier for someone to say our surname rather than go for the first name and guess the wrong brother

Huh. That's a pretty good strategy.

Many of my friends like to refer to me by my last name, which I
don't mind. I just realized that it may be because my last name has
only one syllable whereas my first name has two. I have a friend
who has the same syllaballic structure to his names, and everyone
calls him by his last name, too. Interesting.

[chas]

Like Cynth, I'll comment on the food. Sounds delicious to me, although I'd spice it up some -- some cinnamon, cardamom, coriander, cumin, maybe some amchur powder, serve it with some flatbread and rice. Mmm. . . I'll have to cook up some this weekend.

[Innocent Bystander]

I put rocks in my vegetarian stews, but only the ones made out of sodium chloride. Fortunately my local supermarket sells the stuff.

As for Talasiga-ji's premise that simple people like complex dishes and complex people like simple dishes, I'm inclined to disagree. I prefer simple dishes, but have no pretentions to complexity.

Talasiga-ji! Your posts might be appreciated more if you were to overcome your prediliction for rhetorical periphrases and sesquepdalian terms. Just an observation. Not advice in any shape, manner or form.

[ketida]

You misspelled sessqui.....sespuep....sesqiup....

The big one that means lots of syllables. I only know cause I had to go look it up.

[talasiga]

I put rocks in my vegetarian stews, but only the ones made out of sodium chloride. Fortunately my local supermarket sells the stuff.
.....

yes, inorganic salt is a type of dirt
that I do not add to my food

Remember Professor Yudkin's tome about refined sugar
entitled, "Pure, White and Deadly"?
There should be one about white dirt also with a similar title.
Dr Henry Bieler should have written it. He has a great chapter about it in his famous book "Food is Your Best Medicine".

[sbhikes]

I put rocks in my vegetarian stews, but only the ones made out of sodium chloride. Fortunately my local supermarket sells the stuff.
.....

yes, inorganic salt is a type of dirt
that I do not add to my food

Remember Professor Yudkin's tome about refined sugar
entitled, "Pure, White and Deadly"?
There should be one about white dirt also with a similar title.
Dr Henry Bieler should have written it. He has a great chapter about it in his famous book "Food is Your Best Medicine".

Ah, but salt is a mineral, and sugar, I believe is NOT a mineral.

[WyoBadger]

Acetate (CH3COO−) is an organic salt. I don't think I'd want to put it on my french fries, though.

[talasiga]

Acetate (CH3COO−) is an organic salt. I don't think I'd want to put it on my french fries, though.

Kindergarten level concept formation.
All cows eat grass but grass isn't only eaten by cows.
Now, apply this level of thought to the post of mine you are attempting
to critique with your "straw man" projection.

.....
Ah, but salt is a mineral, and sugar, I believe is NOT a mineral.

Yes, refined sugar, like heroin and rancid pig fat is organic (chemically).
As is strychnine.

To say all inorganic stuff (except H2O) is not not healthy as food does not directly or impliedly say that therefore all organic stuff is healthy. There is no nexus there.

[WyoBadger]

Kindergarten level concept formation.
All cows eat grass but grass isn't only eaten by cows.
Now, apply this level of thought to the post of mine you are attempting
to critique with your "straw man" projection.

Thanks! I am an elementary teacher. Kindergarteners don't really critique things (and they aren't nearly sophisticated enough to set up straw men and knock them down).

They laugh alot, because they have a keen sense of what's goofy.

Tom

p.s. Hey, this is a pretty popular thread! Congratulations!

[Denny]

What!

You don't teach set theory and it's practical application in furthering the understanding of talasiga's posts in kindergarten?

the shame of the American school system

[fearfaoin]

talasiga, do you usually sup upon the settee? (Or dine on the divan?)
What might that say about one's complexity?