German 'duzen' and 'siezen' - etymology ?

Sorry, this was meant to go to the List, not only to Doug.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Carsten Becker <carbeck@...>
Date: 19.10.2006 17:19
Subject: Re: German 'duzen' and 'siezen' - etymology ?
To: Doug Barr <lingoman@...>

From: "Doug Barr" <lingoman@...>
Sent: Tuesday, October 17, 2006 9:08 PM

>I remember being shocked speechless on a student exchange
>trip to  Québec - I'd previously gone to a boarding school
>there and become  bilingual, but of course boarding schools
>are very formal and we  wouldn't have *dared* to tutoyer a
>teacher. When I went to Québec, I  found my exchange-mates
>not only "tutoyer-ing" their teachers, but in  one case
>addressing a teacher to his face by a nickname, Kellogg
>(the  teacher's given name was Réal, and "c'est Réal" "it's
>Réal" sounds  like "céréale" "cereal," hence "Kellogg").
>Shocking! :-D
Hilarious ;-) I've never 'tutoyered' a teacher, but I know
the teacher of one of the English courses back when I was in
school (sigh) let herself be tutoyered by her students.

> I also find it hard to get through to English speakers
> that Gaels do  *not* use the equivalents of Mr. and Mrs.
> with each other. My  students naturally want to call me
> Mr. Barr, but I have to explain to  them that they should
> call me Dughall but use "sibh" to me. The  "sibh" part,
> they get - but calling me by my first name goes against
> the grain of English politeness...
But then I've been taught that English speakers often
address each other by their first name -- much more quickly
at least than Germans, who are rather formal in this
respect. E.g. I'm only 20 but I'm throughout referred to as
"Herr Becker" at work. At vocational school, teachers use
_Sie_ and the first name usually. It's also strange that a
co-worker of mine in the department I'm currently in is _Sie_
for me as a matter of fact despite of her only being 4 years
older than me, while a co-trainee of mine is also 24 and he's
definitely _Du_.

Yours,
Carsten

--
"Miranayam kepauarà naranoaris." (Kalvin nay Hobbes)
Palayena, Nankyu 22, 2316 ya 23:08:25 pd

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