View Poll Results: Is it rude to call people solely by their surname?

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  • Yes, it's rude.

    11 21.57%
  • No, it's not rude.

    28 54.90%
  • I have no opinion either way.

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Thread: Calling people by their surname?

  1. #1
    HEXUS webmaster Steve's Avatar
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    Calling people by their surname?

    It happened a lot when you were at school, probably, but what about now? More importantly, do you think it's rude to refer to people solely by their surname?
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    WEEEEEEEEEEEEE! MadduckUK's Avatar
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    Re: Calling people by their surname?

    i call some people first name, some people nickname and some people second name. i have no idea why this is or how each person gets it chosen but it happens.
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    Efficiently lazy shadowmaster's Avatar
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    Re: Calling people by their surname?

    Depends on the culture I suppose. From my experience in the subcontinent (India/Pakistan) calling someone by their surname is often done and not usually considered rude. On the other hand its not often done here and the only time I hear it is in sports, primarily football.

  4. #4
    Banhammer in peace PeterB kalniel's Avatar
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    Re: Calling people by their surname?

    Yep. It's deliberately dropping the honorific, implying you're of a higher station than the subject. But that's sometimes accepted as friendly banter between peers (as are many other seemingly derogatory terms). Or as in sports commentary, for practical reasons.

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    Re: Calling people by their surname?

    My surname is Fox and still to this day mates call me Fox, work colleagues and the like. I am so used to it I barely answer to my first name any more. I personally don't see it as rude.

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    Senior[ish] Member Singh400's Avatar
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    Re: Calling people by their surname?

    Quote Originally Posted by kalniel View Post
    Yep. It's deliberately dropping the honorific, implying you're of a higher station than the subject. But that's sometimes accepted as friendly banter between peers (as are many other seemingly derogatory terms). Or as in sports commentary, for practical reasons.
    Between friends I'm always using the surname to refer to them. It entirely depends on the relationship with the person you have.

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    Herr Doktor Oetker, ja!!! pollaxe's Avatar
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    Re: Calling people by their surname?

    I'm known by my surname to virtually everyone.. though I will answer to my first name, I prefer the former to the latter by far...

  8. #8
    Does he need a reason? Funkstar's Avatar
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    Re: Calling people by their surname?

    Two of my friends at Uni were addressed by their surname, but that was mainly because their first names were the same... and they shared a flat. It got confusing.

    I find it odd when in overseas on business and being addressed as Mr Neil

  9. #9
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    Re: Calling people by their surname?

    Depends on the person......I happen to have a lot of freinds called Chris and to avoid confusion (as sometimes there can be as many as 4 Chris's gathered in 1 place) they get called by their surname, a variant of it or a nickname.

    As someone else said, always good to call people by their surnames for a bit of banter

    The odd one I have noticed since I have worked in London is some people at work prefer refering to others by their initials.....quite often I get call "JT"....took me a while to adapt to that one.
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    Re: Calling people by their surname?

    I spend a proportion of every day talking to various versions of Surname San and find it highly amusing whenever they reply with Firstname San. It's seems to flow naturally.

    However if peeps started calling me by my surname in a professional environment I'd consider it rude. It's not that I can't put up with it, it's just I find it derogatory - if you want to talk to me have the balls to do it at my level and use my first name.

    Between friends all sorts of names get used, usually because we're a lazy species looking for a shorter version of everything. Whatever's easiest to say goes as long as the subject doesn't get shirty about it - afterall it's between friends so you can tell peeps what you don't like and they'll listen - maybe
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  11. #11
    Ghost of Hexus Present sammyc's Avatar
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    Re: Calling people by their surname?

    Don't mind this so much as people you have just met using your first name without being invited to do so - doctors/bank managers/&c (rather than 'normal' people).

  12. #12
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    Re: Calling people by their surname?

    At school surnames were used sometimes, never bothered me. At uni because of the plethora of Chrises we used surnames for some people. Others we were just rude about.
    Not around too often!

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    Re: Calling people by their surname?

    All I was ever recognised at school by everyone was Major, my friends knew my fullname, the other people just knew me by my last name 'Major' it was rather cool, because everyone seem to get to know me by that name, which I had no problem with.

    Even now at Uni, everyone calls me Major, because my mates from college who are at Uni with me, started calling me that. However, I would not want to be known as Major at wort, I'd appreciate to be known by my first name or at least a shorter version.

    It's not rude, it's just a bit demeaning in serious enviroments to be addressed in such a way.

  14. #14
    Senior[ish] Member Singh400's Avatar
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    Re: Calling people by their surname?

    Quote Originally Posted by DannyM View Post
    It's not rude, it's just a bit demeaning in serious enviroments to be addressed in such a way.
    Guess I hadn't thought of it like that. It's funny cause I don't considering it demeaning at all. But now you mention it, I supose it could be seen as demeaning, by other people. Certain when I get called by my surname* or when I call someone I don't mean it in a demeaning way, nor does the person I'm calling/talking to.

    * Which isn't often, my nickname gets used ALOT more.

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    Re: Calling people by their surname?

    It's all about context. In some instances it is very rude and other times it is perfectly reasonable. Like most etiquette, you've just got to figure it out for yourself, situation by situation.

  16. #16
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    Re: Calling people by their surname?

    I've got one friend who uses my surname instead of my first name, but mostly because there's about half a dozen people in his social circle with my first name (including his boyfriend).

    Other than him, I consider is quite rude and ignorant to use my surname, after all it's not *just* my name, it's my family's name and using it to address me is basically saying I'm no different to any of my family members...

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