From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Msuck: nntp://news.gmane.io/gmane.emacs.gnus.general/25669 Path: main.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Stainless Steel Rat Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.gnus.general Subject: Japanese Honorifics Date: Tue, 5 Oct 1999 14:07:16 -0400 Organization: The Happy Fun Ball Brigade Sender: owner-ding@hpc.uh.edu Message-ID: <99Oct5.140838edt.115201@gateway.intersys.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: coloc-standby.netfonds.no Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-Trace: main.gmane.org 1035163013 15227 80.91.224.250 (21 Oct 2002 01:16:53 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@main.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Mon, 21 Oct 2002 01:16:53 +0000 (UTC) Return-Path: Original-Received: from spinoza.math.uh.edu (spinoza.math.uh.edu [129.7.128.18]) by sclp3.sclp.com (8.8.5/8.8.5) with ESMTP id OAA10204 for ; Tue, 5 Oct 1999 14:10:17 -0400 (EDT) Original-Received: from sina.hpc.uh.edu (lists@Sina.HPC.UH.EDU [129.7.3.5]) by spinoza.math.uh.edu (8.9.1/8.9.1) with ESMTP id NAB24535; Tue, 5 Oct 1999 13:09:09 -0500 (CDT) Original-Received: by sina.hpc.uh.edu (TLB v0.09a (1.20 tibbs 1996/10/09 22:03:07)); Tue, 05 Oct 1999 13:10:10 -0500 (CDT) Original-Received: from sclp3.sclp.com (root@sclp3.sclp.com [204.252.123.139]) by sina.hpc.uh.edu (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id NAA04951 for ; Tue, 5 Oct 1999 13:09:58 -0500 (CDT) Original-Received: from intersys.com (gateway.intersys.com [198.133.74.253]) by sclp3.sclp.com (8.8.5/8.8.5) with ESMTP id OAA10182 for ; Tue, 5 Oct 1999 14:08:00 -0400 (EDT) Original-Received: by gateway.intersys.com id <115201>; Tue, 5 Oct 1999 14:08:38 -0400 Original-To: "(ding)" Illegal-Object: S References: <5b905mesqo.fsf@giga.cs.rochester.edu> <5bemfecz14.fsf@giga.cs.rochester.edu> ^-illegal end of message identification X-Attribution: Rat In-Reply-To: Kai.Grossjohann@CS.Uni-Dortmund.DE's message of "05 Oct 1999 13:42:30 +0200" Original-Lines: 35 User-Agent: Gnus/5.070097 (Pterodactyl Gnus v0.97) XEmacs/20.4 (Emerald) Precedence: list X-Majordomo: 1.94.jlt7 Xref: main.gmane.org gmane.emacs.gnus.general:25669 X-Report-Spam: http://spam.gmane.org/gmane.emacs.gnus.general:25669 -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 * Kai.Grossjohann@CS.Uni-Dortmund.DE (Kai Großjohann) on Tue, 05 Oct 1999 | I don't know any Japanese at all, and I wonder: is `-san' a suffix | used when speaking of a person informally; somewhat like the use of | first name (rather than `Mr' or `Ms' and last name) in the Western | culture? Or is it part of his name? The -san honorific is, as has been pointed out, similar to the English Mr./Ms./Mrs. honorifics. Context determines the degree of formality. It is never used self-referentially. The -chan (feminine) and -kun (masculine) 'honorifics' are diminutives. Their primary use is familial, a younger sister or brother. They are infrequently substituted for -san when the speaker is a superior (like your boss) but is also a friend (or at least considers himself to be a friend). The diminutives are also very infrequently used incorrectly between otherwise very close friends. Then there is the archaic -dono honorific. The meaning is highly dependant on context -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.0.0 (GNU/Linux) Comment: For info see http://www.gnupg.org iD8DBQE3+j5Tgl+vIlSVSNkRAhg0AJ9UfBaGVaZt351uwlztYAxHNLwa5wCfcfeY HD3mxmcZLrpeJrjIYMCkvEw= =SnIh -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- -- Rat \ Do not taunt Happy Fun Ball. Minion of Nathan - Nathan says Hi! \ PGP Key: at a key server near you! \