LogFAQs > #975759974

speedpunk posted...

At least with teachers and Japanese people you're still using a name.

Yeah, but they'd still give you the side-eye if you used the wrong honorific. Same principle.

Most languages/cultures have some form of it. Like how French has a "familiar/affectionate" form of "you" (tu) but also a formal/plural version (vous), and you're expected to know when to use which. Most cultures for most of history have put a strong emphasis on using the proper language to establish authority/hierarchy, even if they do it in different ways.

It's really only a recent thing in the West that there's been a shift towards kids calling their parents by their first name. I rememeber when I was young and you'd hear a kid do that, and the most common reaction was mostly along the lines of "Wow, that kid's a little shit" or "Damn hippie parents, letting their kids get away with that shit, putting their kids in 'time out', or asking them 'How do you think that makes me feel?'. Those kids are going to grow up to be assholes."


Spoiler: Those kids mostly grew up to be assholes.