Re: Personal Conjugation based on Closeness

Tristan wrote:
> Unless usage differs outside of Australia, it's actually 'aunts and
> uncles' (like 'black and white', 'husband and wife', 'mum and dad', 'fish
> and chips', or 'knife and fork').
>
I recall that my mother and her contemps. always referred (first name basis)
to their married friends with the woman's name first-- Janet and Jim, Jane
and Bob, etc. (though one uncle's in-laws, whom she didn't like, were Olaf
and Annie).  Since my father didn't have much say w.r.t their social life, I
don't know what he would have said.

Most of my friends being gay, the matter is irrelevant-- Dave and
Barry=Barry and Dave, Sally and Cy etc. (But most of the time the one I
know/like better goes first.)  The few m/f couples I know tend to go by
man's name first-- Matt and Kim, Dick and Staci.  That's also how I refer to
my nephews and their wives--- as does my sister, but of course they're her
sons, and she doesn't much like their wives....And most of her close social
friends are widows, so husbands don't enter into it..

John Cowan's comment re arroz con pollo seems to work with Indonesian too--
mi udang (noodle-shrimp) 'shrimp with noodles'.  But note they follow Engl.
usage (how universal is this in LOTW?) suami-isteri 'husband-wife' vs
ibu-bapak 'mother-father= parents'

Replies