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

[rarelylynne.livejournal.com]

This. In French, you "tutoyer" your peer group off the bat and children, but non-peers (older than you or alternate life forms) would give you permission to do so before you stop using the formal "vous".

So, for instance, I used "vous" with my Parisian host mom (who was in her late 40s) when I first met her; she insisted that we use "tu" right away since I'd be living with her. My Aix-en-Provence host mom, however, was my grandmother's age, and we used "vous" the entire time despite my living in her house.

I didn't meet any vampires in France, sadly.