30 Aug
2006
30 Aug
'06
11:51 p.m.
Don wrote:
Yes, and a Macedonian (?) married female's last
name is a
diminutive form of her husband's last name. And married
females in western societies *tend* to use "Mrs".
[the whole "person name" issue was an illustration that we
don't REGULARLY tag people with names that identify their
characteristics/"types"; do red-haired people get named
differently than black-haired? do tall people get different
names than short people?]
Where I come from people tend to have not so much a nickname as, well I
don't know what you'd call it, but their name is tagged with something
to do with where they're from or their physical appearance. Thus you
might have Black Donnie (who is a coalman), Donnie Bogbrush (who has a
distinctive hairstyle) and Donnie Staffin (who comes from a particular
place). This falls down, of course, if something changes about that
person - for instance Wee Alec who was indeed small but is now about
6'3" and built along the same lines as his father's (Big Alec, 5'8"
and
seven stone soaking wet) Charolais bulls.
These aren't necessarily real people, but just an example.
Gordon.