Re: [xmca] Terms of Endearment

Mike's post brings up an issue that is particularly salient for me...the
"code switching" that goes on in the presence of others. One of the
principles that I cover in my business communication course is that
informal usage within the office (i.e. calling one's boss by his/her
first name) does NOT extend to "public" venues. That is, when referring
to the boss in the presence of upper management or customers, it is
appropriate to revert to the formal title.

I'm wondering whether this is a more universal principle, even given the
variations on when the informal or formal are used in private. Is it
always true that an "audience" of sorts trumps the relationship of the
two speakers?

dale

Dale Cyphert, Ph.D.
Associate Professor and Interim Head
Department of Management
University of Northern Iowa
1227 W. 27th Street
Cedar Falls, IA 50614-0125
(319) 273-6150; fax (319) 2732922
dale.cyphert@uni.edu

Mike Cole wrote:
> Interesting that this discussion has sparked so much interest, perhaps
> because we are all
> so familiar with the phenomenon but only know some of its variations.
>
> In our afterschool work where we mix play and education and friendship and
> ...... the undergrads partner up with the kids and play an intermediate role
> between them and the real authorities.
> I am not in either of the main activities we are conducting, THE authority
> when at the site. But
> I am usually the eldest and the undergrads are in a system where Professor
> Cole or Dr. Cole
> is the default.
>
> To create some space for me to participate at the sites, a system has
> evolved over time
> where I am referred to as Dr. Mike or Professor Mike. At one of our sites,
> (heavily African American) the adults are expected to be referred to as Mr.
> Danny or Ms. Veverly. But it was a struggle for people to actually be able
> to call me Mr Mike and I am the undergrad's professor,
> so we collectively settled on Professor Mike. But even then, the directress,
> whose rules these
> were, had a very hard time referring to me as other than Professor Cole. Now
> we have gotten to
> know each other a lot better and she is easy with Professor Mike when the
> kids are around.
> But if another adult is there? Professor Cole tends to pop out.
>
> My point in writing this is to suggest as (I think we all realize) how
> deeply cultural these
> conventions of address are, and how they encapsulate power relations, forms
> of respect,
> local norms........ even when we move from one idiocultural system to
> another in a single
> national/cultural system.
>
> The collection of examples has been great to read about.
> mike
> (in this idioculture)
>
> On Dec 13, 2007 4:51 PM, Paul Dillon <phd_crit_think@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>
>>yeah, "mate" also sounds so friendly, especially with an australian
>>accent!
>>
>> "No worries, mate!"
>>
>> Paul
>>
>>Geoff <geoffrey.binder@gmail.com> wrote:
>> The Australian solution is my favorite, (and not just because I'm
>>Australian, but because I often forget peoples names) and that's mate.
>>Mate can be used across gender and in all but the most formal of
>>situations.
>>
>>On 13/12/2007, Kevin Rocap wrote:
>>
>>>So the more titles we can come up with for Mike, the more he is like
>>>arctic snow. ;-) ????...as the driven snow? (or is this just a snow
>>>job?)
>>>
>>>In Peace,
>>>K.
>>>
>>>Paul Dillon wrote:
>>>
>>>>David,
>>>>
>>>>The question of perception and language is pretty complictated. One of
>>
>>my first field work experiences involved tests of color perceptions among
>>Mayan and Spanish speakers in the Yucatan. I haven't revisited that theme in
>>a long time but I do remember those studies (kay, berlin?) showed a pretty
>>consistent variation between the colors that people could remember and those
>>they could successfully communicate to others and that these weren't the
>>same between the two language groups.
>>
>>>>To me it seems obvious that Inuit or other arctic groups would not
>>
>>only have lots of different words for snow, but also would distinguish
>>qualities of snow that folks who don't live in environments where snow is
>>very important. Maybe these distinctions even involve the development of a
>>concept of snow generative of snowy language and logics permitting an
>>ontological relationship completely absent among, say, the Nuer.
>>
>>>>In Spanish the use of "tu" and "usted", seems related to the use of
>>
>>"Dr. Cole" and "mike", it's not fixed but situational, people with whom I
>>use "tu" when drinking beer, I use "usted" in a faculty meeting. I think
>>there might be situations in which mike is addressed as Dr. Cole, there
>>might even be situations where he expects it. I wonder.
>>
>>>>Paul
>>>>
>>>>p.s., I've never thought of myself as a "street fighting man", a
>>
>>"midnight rambler" perhaps.
>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>David Kellogg wrote:
>>>>Dear Mike:
>>>>
>>>>The problem is that there are cultures (including ours) where it's
>>
>>really TOO intimate to address a colleague by their first name. In most
>>families in Korea, a younger brother doesn't use the first name of an older
>>brother though the older brother may use that of the younger (just as
>>parents may use their children's first names but not vice versa in the
>>West). I can never get my students to call me anything but "Professor
>>Kellogg" even though I am really only a lecturer (and that's why we address
>>everybody except Mike as "Professor" in our contribution to the discussion
>>on development).
>>
>>>>I gather from Paul's comments that "dear" as a letter salutation is
>>
>>also considered too intimate now, which was certainly not true when I left
>>the USA more or less permanently in the early 1980s.
>>
>>>>In English teaching we try (very stupidly) to teach terms of address
>>
>>as a set of rules, e.g.
>>
>>>>a) WHERE INTIMATE: Never use a FIRST name with a title (except that of
>>
>>course here in Korea the last name comes first and the first name comes
>>last)
>>
>>>>b) WHERE NOT INTIMATE: Never use a LAST name without a title (ditto).
>>>>
>>>>This succeeds in utterly confusing our learners and erects huge
>>
>>barriers to human interaction where none previously existed. Language is NOT
>>a set of rules--not even grammar "rules" are rules, and to to try to teach
>>respect and collegiality as a set of rules is almost a contradiction in
>>terms (since rules will inevitably involve a clash between MY rules and
>>YOURS and the way I end up expressing my respect for you involves NOT
>>respecting your rules).
>>
>>>>So what do I teach? Human interaction, of course. You ask somebody how
>>
>>to address them and then you forget your own bloody rules and just do what
>>they tell you to do. In fact, a question like "What do I call you?" is
>>EASIER to teach than the so-called "rules" above. But most importantly it is
>>clearly LIMITING and LIMITED in a way that so-called rules are not. It's
>>concrete and personal, one might almost say intimate, as human interactions
>>have to be.
>>
>>>>Last night I was reading Paul Bloom's book "How Children Learn the
>>
>>Meanings of Words" (MIT: 2001). He has a "rules and words" paradigm for
>>language, so he spends some of the latter part of the book smirking at those
>>of us who consider rules and words negotiable and not innate.
>>
>>>>He cites the following parody of the Whorfian (and Vygotskyan)
>>
>>position on p. 244.
>>
>>>>Whorfian: Eskimos are greatly infuenced by their language in their
>>
>>perception of snow. for example, they have N words for snow whereas English
>>only has none. Having all these different words makes them think of snow
>>very differently than Americans do.
>>
>>>>Skeptic: How do you know they think differently than Americans do?
>>>>Whorfian: Look at all the words they have for snow!
>>>>
>>>>First of all, if Inuit who see snow every day have exactly the same
>>
>>perception of snow as Americans who have never seen snow in their lives, it
>>is the skeptics and not the Whorfians who have some tough explaining to do.
>>Secondly, there is really NOTHING circular about language being both cause
>>and effect: the language of previous generations is an effect for them and a
>>cause for us. In the same way, a question like "What do I call you?" is both
>>effect and cause, and so is its effect, namely the answer. What's so hard
>>about that?
>>
>>>>David Kellogg
>>>>Seoul National University of Education
>>>>
>>>>PS:
>>>>
>>>>Actually, Paul, though I am not a Stones fan, at heart I am a street
>>
>>fightin' man like you.... But you can see that our Dear Mike takes his
>>pastoral duties on this list very seriously indeed, and that's surely one
>>reason why the list is such a nice quiet place to work.
>>
>>>>dk
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
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>>>>
>>>
>>>
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>>
>>
>>--
>>Geoffrey Binder
>>BA (SS) La Trobe, BArch (Hons) RMIT
>>PhD Candidate
>>Global Studies, Social Sciences and Planning RMIT
>>Ph B. 9925 9951
>>M. 0422 968 567
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Received on Thu Dec 13 17:41 PST 2007