the questions of our times: formality and vampires

[rm]

This, thanks to a discussion started by weirdquark. Please do visit the comments where you will learn many things including the many ways formality is structured in different languages (something my questions did not fully take into account, and I apologize for that), werewolf pack dynamics considerations, and whether there are vampires in France.

[Poll #1601631]

Comments

[trinker.livejournal.com]

Basically anything set in the era, or written in that era with any attention to social interactions.

The Japanese appear to have lucked out in just how they ended up encountering the West, and when.

As a side note: my mother, after nearly 40 years of friendship, still calls her best friend "Lastname-san". I have no idea what her first name is. I think if they'd met while they were kids, they'd call each other "Personal-name-chan".

Oh. Huh. Just realized that I can answer rm's question now.

How I would address any supernatural creature in Japanese would be encoded in their name/form of address. "Vampire-sama" is obviously spoken to in one of the registers associated with -sama, on down the line, all the way to -mono.

[kittydesade.livejournal.com]

I might actually have to break down and read some Regency novels then. I majored in anthropology and history solely because the way people interact absolutely fascinates me. Related to my fascination with language, how it shapes us, how we shape it, blah blah scientific stuff goes here.

... Huh! That is... something for me to note. (Sorry if I sound like I'm using you as a lab rat or anything, my usual response to nearly anything is "HUH! That's interesting *scribble scribble*")

... Aand that's something to note, too. Possibly in my Japanese notes for today...

[trinker.livejournal.com]

Okay, now we *really* need to go off in a dark corner and talk, while consuming bizarre beverages and foodstuff. Unless you're not into that?

Totally okay with being lab-ratted. It's like paying back for all the times I've engaged in the other direction. (I figure that's a big part of what other people are for...I like engaging in active culture "tourism", with aware and engaged participants.)

I hadn't considered the in-built formality cues until just moments ago, so this has been a fantastic conversation. (Thanks, rm!)

[kittydesade.livejournal.com]

I am insanely into that. I could geek about this kind of thing for hours. Hours, I tell you!

It must be my birthday. (Yes! That's exactly it. I just have this appetite for, feed me information! Patterns! I crave patterns of behavior garnished with the occasional random quirk!)

*waves* Thanks, rm!