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Old Jun 30, 2015, 09:31 AM
Anonymous200320
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Other, because it has never happened. People don't address each other by first name in my language, unless they need to call someone's attention or indicate whom they are speaking to. The exception being salespeople, and I dislike it when they address me by name, it's an artificial and foreign intimacy marker which doesn't work. The only person who addresses me by name is my best friend who is American, and he pronounces it in English which is different from the two different native pronunciations - I don't mind him doing it, because it is part of his language and culture, and as an intimacy marker I'm not repulsed by that specific person using it. However, even though we speak English to each other, T has never addressed me by name (except in writing) or in any other way. It does not seem like a natural thing for him to do. I have sometimes wondered how he would pronounce my name.

Ursula K LeGuin is an excellent writer not least because she has the ability to look beyond what is an obvious part of her own culture - using names when talking to people - and realise that it is not inherent to all communication everywhere...