People addressing others by their surname

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Keeno
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11 Nov 2011, 7:47 am

Do a lot of people address you by your surname, rather than your first name?

It's something that happened normally back in school days. I for one had people mostly using my surname rather than first name. But it's often considered a disrespectful thing to do. Why is this? I didn't read anything into it because it was done with half the guys in school and it was natural for me to call half the guys in school by surname, as their generally recognised form of address.



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11 Nov 2011, 8:56 am

When I was a research student there was a professor who would use surnames in the third person, but was on first name terms with everyone in the first person. Some people thought it offensive, I though it just old fashioned.



Aspiewordsmith
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11 Nov 2011, 9:48 am

Calling people by their surnames has been used in the secondary school system but It was a bit rude but people did not care. In the school sysytem only the boys used to be called by their surname which to me is rather chauvanistic but that is NT world for you obsessed about gender. To me it is or should only be used in the military both (men and women) and not for civilians. :idea:



Asp-Z
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11 Nov 2011, 9:54 am

I hate being called by my surname, and people rarely do it.



DialAForAwesome
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11 Nov 2011, 10:03 am

One of my first bullies was the first one to do that in my case, so he basically ruined it for everyone else. As a result, I don't take being called by my last name very well these days. I have a first name, and it's there so you can tell me apart from others, so use it. :roll:


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Deinonychus
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11 Nov 2011, 2:47 pm

I have a difficult to pronounce name, so I probably get addressed by my first name more often.

If there are multiple people within the same social group/workplace with the same first name then they are sometimes referred to by their surnames to differentiate them.



TenPencePiece
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11 Nov 2011, 3:14 pm

Has always been first name and nothing else


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auntblabby
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11 Nov 2011, 11:27 pm

Aspiewordsmith wrote:
it is or should only be used in the military both (men and women) and not for civilians. :idea:


when i was in the army i was mostly addressed by my first name, or [patronizingly] as pfc [first name] or specialist [first name].



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12 Nov 2011, 3:13 am

No, and the only reason I'd call someone else by theirs is if they had one that sounds cool. :P



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12 Nov 2011, 3:24 am

I tend to introduce myself with my surname as I prefer it


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SkipNip
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12 Nov 2011, 9:54 am

Its a matter of what sounds better. If your surname is easier to say and sounds better than your first name, people will be more likely to address you by it.



OliveOilMom
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12 Nov 2011, 3:36 pm

When I was in Jr High "Welcome Back Kotter" was a huge hit on prime time TV. Those of you who know it remember that the class was called the Sweathogs and they were the worst class the school ever had. The class I was in was always being singled out as the rowdiest, most disruptive, etc, so because of the show, they nicknamed our class the "Sweathogs". Well, the Sweathogs on tv all called each other by their last names, and as a joke we all did that in my class for a day or two, to each other. After a couple of days it got old and we went back to first names. Except for mine. From then on, everybody called me by my last name except for my close friends. To this day, if I run into someone from school who was just an acquaintance, they will address me by my maiden name only, no first name.

Frances



OneStepBeyond
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12 Nov 2011, 8:14 pm

i wish they did, i love my surname



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12 Nov 2011, 8:20 pm

OneStepBeyond wrote:
i wish they did, i love my surname


Hello Beyond :)


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Moog
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12 Nov 2011, 8:24 pm

Keeno wrote:
Do a lot of people address you by your surname, rather than your first name?

It's something that happened normally back in school days. I for one had people mostly using my surname rather than first name. But it's often considered a disrespectful thing to do. Why is this? I didn't read anything into it because it was done with half the guys in school and it was natural for me to call half the guys in school by surname, as their generally recognised form of address.


Not since school. If someone did it now I'd assume they hadn't evolved since those days, and I'd probably want to avoid them.


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OneStepBeyond
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12 Nov 2011, 8:28 pm

beyond looks like beyonce, i could live with that

i'm too young to have been called by surname at school(!) but i did have an old uni professor who called me Miss.********, i thought it was the beesknees

a lot of 'blokes' get called their surname in a nicknamey way i notice