It's the little things...

[alexpgp]

I started to write a diatribe about the maddening American tendency to insist (without asking, mind you) on dealing with everyone on a first-name basis, but it got way too long. The short version is that a significant number of people seem to go over to first names from the very first step.

The short response is that Russians have a different, yet perfectly usable method of addressing one another that involves the first name and something called a "patronymic" (a name derived from the name of one's father). You can use first-name-and-patronymic with just about everyone in Russia (except children), and nobody will be offended. For some reason, though, there are some Americans who either cannot or will not bother to learn this simple thing - how to address a person who was born in Russia - which will pay off handsomely in dealing with that person. If nothing else, use of the patronymic will distinguish them from the rest of the North American herd.

I've been on console too long...

Cheers...

Comments

Re:

[alexpgp.livejournal.com]

No, it's still the father's name, but the ending is different to reflect the woman's gender (and the same is true for the family name).

Example. A brother and sister (Ivan and Svetlana, respectively) who are the offspring of Nikolai Volkov would be known as:

• Ivan Nikolaevich Volkov
  
• Svetlana Nikolaevna Volkova

Cheers...