Re: German 'duzen' and 'siezen' — etymology ?

In Germany teachers switch from “du” to “Sie” as of the 10th grade, i.e.
when the pupils are 16 years of age and over. As I understand it, at least in
Bavaria, this rule is the law, or at least “agreed upon school policy”
whereas in Austria the switching is optional. Teachers usually ask the higher
grades at the beginning of the years whether they wish to be addressed as
“Sie” or “du”. Remembering my own school days, we usually opted for
retaining “du”.

Dan

 

-----Original Message-----
From: Constructed Languages List [mailto:CONLANG@listserv.brown.edu] On Behalf Of Henrik Theiling
Sent: Wednesday, October 18, 2006 5:14 PM
To: CONLANG@listserv.brown.edu
Subject: Re: German 'duzen' and 'siezen' — etymology ?

Hi!

Doug Barr writes:

>...
> 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...
>...
It's interesting that this combination is used in German schools (at least in
mine): for the older students, there is a switch to 'Sie' when teachers address
them (I don't remember when this switch was done, presumable starting with the
11th grade). But still, the given name of the students was used: 'Henrik,
wissen Sie, ob ....'. The teachers, OTOH, were addressed by surname by the
students: 'Herr XYZ, wissen Sie denn, ob...'.

**Henrik