Subject: Re: [lojban] centripetality: subset vs component

From: Elrond <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 12 May 2000 02:42:49 +0200 (CEST)

> > But in a more individualistic society, people are no longer predominantly
> > referenced by family. That is why the American habit of using "Nora" even
> > in such a non-intimate circle as this forum is very modern, and may seem
> > strange to Asians and Europeans, who may feel that Americans are
> > aggressively tearing down distance and pretending to be on intimate terms
> > with people, with whom polite distance, i.e. relating to one another in
> > terms of a stratified address system with different layers of closeness,
> > as in traditional society, would be more honest and appropriate.
> 
> 
> Fascinating! Are Asians and Europeans truly outraged by our
> "aggressive" use of first names?
I would not say "outraged" by something which I do not find really
"aggressive" in the first place, but it is true that it sometimes raises
somewhat some closeness concerns... Many french people I know of (not I,
fortunately) are really disturbed (is that the correct english
world?) when they are being spoken to for the first time and by their
first name. However, this phenomenon tends to disappear for people who are
frequently involved in open chats as found on the Internet.

> Personally I interpret the spirit of Lojban as accepting modern
> international standards (meters & kilograms, celsius, utc time, iso dates,
> etc) unless a really good reason interferes. 
I do the same. However the possible "good reasons" must be checked
carefully first.

Best regards
raph