首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
The Game of the Name Here comes John Smith walking toward me. Even though he is but a passing acquaintance, the American gre
The Game of the Name Here comes John Smith walking toward me. Even though he is but a passing acquaintance, the American gre
admin
2012-04-23
72
问题
The Game of the Name
Here comes John Smith walking toward me. Even though he is but a passing acquaintance, the American greeting ritual demands that I utter a few words to reassure him of my good will. But what form of address should I use? John? Smith? Dr. Smith? A decision such as this is usually made unconsciously.
As native speakers in the American speech community, we have grown up learning the rules of address at the same time that we were acquiring the grammatical rules of American - English. At first thought, it might seem a trivial pursuit to examine the ways in which we address one another. But forms of address reveal many assumptions we make about memebers of our speech community.
Our initial decision about the appropriate address form is based on relative ages. If the person being addressed is a child, then almost all the rules that we have unconsciously assimilated can safely he ignored, and we use the simple formula First Name. The child, in turn, addresses an adult by using the formula Tilte plus Last Name.
But defining a" child" is not always easy. I address my son’s roommate at college by FN, even though he is an adult under the law. I, too, have the relative age of a child to a 75 - year - old acquaintance who calls me Pete. Let us assume that John Smith is not a child who can be addressed by FN but is either my contemporary or my elder. The next important determiner for the form of address will then be the speech situation.
If the situation is a formal one, then I must disregard all other rules and use social Identity plus Last Name. John Smith will always be addressed as Dr. Smith ( or sometimes simply as Doetor, with Last Name understood) in the medical setting of office or hospital. ( I am allowed to call him if my status is at least as high as his or if we are friends outside of our social roles, but the rest of my utterance must remain respectful. )
We are also obliged to address certain other people by their social identity in formal situation: public officials (Congressman: Your Honor) , educators (Professor or Doctor), leaders of meetings (Mr. Chairman), Roman Catholic priests (Father Daffy) and nuns (Sister Anna), and so forth. By the way, note the sexist distinction in the formulas for priests and nuns. The formula for a priest is Father plus Last Name, but for a nun it is Sister plus Religious Name (usually an FN).
Most conversations, however, are not carried on in formal speech situations, and so the basic decision is when to use FN to TLN. A social acquaintance or newly hired colleague of approximately the same age and rank is usually introduced on an FN basis. "Pete, I’ d like you to meet Harvy. "Now a problem arises if both age and rank of cone of the parties are higher: "Pete, I’ d like you to meet Attorney Brown. "
Attorney Brown may, of course, at any time signal me that he is willing to suspend the rules of address and allow an FN basis. Such a suspension is his privilege to bestow, and it is usually handled humorously, with a remark like, "I answer quicker to Bruce. "
Complications arise when relative age and relative rank are not both the same. A young doctor who joins a hospital finds it difficult to address a much older doctor. They are equal in rank (and therefore FN should be used) but the great disparity in ages calls for TLN. In such cases, the young doctor can use the No - Name (NN) formula, phrasing his utterances adroitly to avoid using any term of address at all.
English is quite exceptional among the world’s languages in this respect. Most European languages oblige the speaker to choose between the familiar and formal second person singular as in the French tu and vous), as English once did when "thou" was in use.
This is the basic American system, but the rules vary according to speech situations, subtle friendship or kin relationships between the speakers, regions of the country, and so forth.
Southern speech, for example, adds the formula Title plus First Name (Mr. Charlie) to indicate familiar respect. Southerners are also likely to specify kin terms (as in Cousin Jane) whereas in most of the United States FN is used for cousins.
Address to strangers also alters some of the rules. A speaker usually addresses a stranger whose attire, and behavior indicate higher status by saying sir. But sometimes speakers with low status address those with obviously higher status by spurning this rule and instead using Mac or buddy--as when a construction worker asks a passing executive, socially identified by his atlacie’ case, "You got a match, buddy? "
How do people address a public official correctly?
选项
A、Professor or Doctor.
B、Father or Sister.
C、Mr. Chairman.
D、His Honor or Congressman.
答案
D
解析
在第六段中,作者提到对于政府官员的称呼。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/mDiO777K
0
专业英语八级
相关试题推荐
Whentheleadersofmedia,telecommunications,ITandInternetcompaniescongregate,astheydidrecentlyinDavos,thetalkis
Ethnographyisthestudyofaparticularhumansocietyortheprocessofmakingsuchastudy.Contemporaryethnographyisbased
Aseveryancientmarinerknew,travelingbysailisasimplewaytogo.Thoughthewindscouldbefickleandtheboatspokey,th
WhenaScottishresearchteamstartledtheworldbyrevealing3monthsagothatithadclonedanadultsheep,PresidentClinton
A、Therearealtogether15candidatesinthepresidentialelection.B、Apro-Westernreformerwonmorevotesthananyothercandid
Abouthalfoftheinfantandmaternaldeathsindevelopingcountriescouldbeavoidedifwomenhad【M1】______usedfamilyplannin
Abouthalfoftheinfantandmaternaldeathsindevelopingcountriescouldbeavoidedifwomenhad【M1】______usedfamilyplannin
TheSupremeCourt’srecentdecisionallowsregionalinterstatebankstodoawaywithonerestrictioninAmerica’sbankingoperat
TheSupremeCourt’srecentdecisionallowsregionalinterstatebankstodoawaywithonerestrictioninAmerica’sbankingoperat
FictionandRealityTherelationshipbetweenfictionandreality1.Fiction:the【1】______reflectionofreality【1】______.Re
随机试题
箭头所指的解剖结构是
目前治疗乳腺癌的主要方法是
甲因个人购房向乙借款15万元,乙要求甲将自己使用了1年的桑塔纳轿车进行抵押,双方签订了抵押合同且办理了抵押登记,后甲开车与他人相撞,保险公司支付保险金5万元。因车受损,乙向甲提出了下述请求,其中哪些请求不能成立?()
根据市场调研目的和深度不同,可分为()。
用人单位解除劳动合同,依法应当向劳动者支付经济补偿的,在()时支付。[2008年真题]
杨某2017年10月取得如下收入:(1)出租住房,取得租金收入3000元,发生相关税费168元,修缮费2000元。(2)出版书稿,分3次取得收入,每次3000元。(3)转让境内A股股票,取得转让收入100000元,取得A股股息
某计算机采用微程序控制,微指令中操作控制字段共12位,若采用直接控制,则此时一条微指令最多可同时启动()个操作。若采用字段直接编码控制,并要求一条微指令需要同时启动3个微操作,则指令中的操作控制字段应分()段,若每个字段的微指令数相同,这样
下列不属于全国人民代表大会罢免范围的是()。
有一个农夫遇到了【C8】______,人们让他去找上帝帮忙。于是农夫找到上帝,对他说:“您能帮助我吗?我【C9】______给您一头牛作为感谢。”后来,农夫真的得到了上帝的帮助。当想到要给上帝一头牛的时候,农夫却舍不得了。要是不给上帝,他又怕上帝不高兴。于
A、Herhappinesstobealive.B、Herhappinesstobeclosetonature.C、Heroptimismabouthowmuchknowledgeshecangain.D、Her
最新回复
(
0
)