The Title Wank

[gurdymonkey]

I am writing this here so as not to hijack a thread in someone else's journal. It's going to ramble and may not be completely germane to the discussion over there anyway.

"(Pang?) Six out of ten Westerners will call me Jehanne if I'm dressed as Saionji, two will remember to call me Makiwara (and one of them will mispronounce it), and the other two will say, "I'm sorry, what's your Japanese name again?"

(Pang?) I got called by my Japanese name, mostly pronounced correctly and with appropriate honorifics on a regular basis for four and a half days. (You have no idea what a novelty this is....)" (LJ entry of 2/28/08)

Think back into the mists of time, O My Readers of SCA origins. Try to remember how you felt the first time someone addressed you as "My Lady" or "My Lord." Did you come to the SCA because there is some part of you that is a shameless romantic? Did you feel, as this writer did, that you had found a haven? Did you feel special? Did you lose the power of speech the first time you were summoned before your monarchs and given the right to style yourself "Lady/Lord _____________?"

If you are a Westerner, I do hope you enjoyed it because after the herald led the cheer for your AoA, it may be the last time you heard yourself called "Lady/Lord _____________"  It is the Way of Things (TM) here, primarily because the West is the first kingdom and you can't swing a peer without hitting a dead cat and the local culture deals with it by crying, "Nonono, just call me __________!"  

What of the "Nonono, just call me __________!" people who continue to wear the bling that goes with their earned achievements even as they're insisting on being Just Folks. Does this send a mixed message? 

What about the members of the population who stay at AoA level?

What does this do to the culture of the kingdom? Does this diminish the experience of going to an event and being larger than life and romantic for a few hours of one's week? Does this result in less courteous behavior? Does it kill the magic?

Contrast this with the following. Japanese culture is all about the honorifics, so those who choose to portray Japanese personae quickly learn the appropriate ones and use them.  All the time. I'm always "Saionji-hime" or "Makiwara-hime" online, and sometimes "-sensei" as well. Last spring I was Saionji-hime whether I was pounding tent stakes in t-shirt and tatsukebakama or pouring sake in my prettiest wafuku or staggering to the privy with uncombed hair first thing in the morning or stirring soba over a camp stove.  Some of these people I've known long enough they should be calling me Hanae-hime, but they won't because that's too intimate! And "my" boys are always ___________-dono. Always.

I know which I prefer.

Comments

[sasha-khan.livejournal.com]

I know that I prefer to use honorifics, especially since it is my observation that (small w) westerners are a scruffy, uncouth lot.

This is also affected by being around a lot of modern-day Turks, who routinely refer to others (especially elders and teachers) as male name bey, or female name hanim.

As you know, I find it very amusing to use my (adopted) culture's honorifics with your heathen culture's outlandish names - Makiwara hanim...

[bronx-baroness.livejournal.com]

We talk a bit around here about "going in stealth mode" just to get things done.

I don't usually wear any of my bling unless I'm in court to honor someone else. You look silly wearing a coronet while rolling out pie crusts and that's where you usually find me unless I'm teaching something. You won't find me wearing my bling then either.

I think after spending a year always having to wear something on my head I am relishing not having to be out in front.

When I sign some piece of email, it's usually "Rowan B." People who know me, know me- and those who treat anyone badly because of a lack of title next to a name, show their ass publicly and well, then you know where they stand. :)

[kareina.livejournal.com]

I haven't been privileged to see you at event dressed as anything other than Jehanne. If I had, I'd use the name _and_ honorific you gave me to use*, and would use them together because in Japan it is _part_ of the name in a way that titles in Europe aren't. When I lived in Japan (we left when I was 3 1/2) no one _ever_ left the -chan off of my name.

However, I don't see a problem with leaving titles off of European names in casual conversation with friends--I am far more likely to use a title if I *don't know* a person's name. I will use titles when I introduce people *if* both parties have a title, because it bothers me when someone introduces me with a title and doesn't give me the title of the person to whom I'm being introduced.


*(Sorry, but I don't know which name is correct for you, Saionji-hime, or Makiwara-hime, I know that you are called both, but I don't know why two different names are used, or what your full Japanese name is)

[karisu-sama.livejournal.com]

If I every get involved in this sort of thing and need to create an SCA persona, I'm thinking my personal name would probably be:

Yukiyo (if persona is female = "Happy Generation")
Yukio (if persona is male = "Happy Man")

I already have a performance art persona (for a Butler Café, which currently is in operation about once a year) whose given name is Yukio; I likes it. :)


(... As for a potential family name, I dunno yet. The Café Verführen investor is a 3/4 Brit dude whose family name is Yoshida - which is terribly plebian, but he's a modern business tycoon...)

[reynardine.livejournal.com]

There's part of me that agrees that "Nonono, just call me ___!" kills the magic, but then another, less-worthy part of me likes it, only because I know it is unlikely that I'll get above AOA-rank, despite the long time I've been involved with the SCA. I've been in long enough that a lot of people that I started with are now peers.

Back when I lived in the Midrealm, it was a sign that you really knew a person well when you could call them by their real name (not at an event, of course). In Calontir, it's very different--people I've known for years don't know my real name. It's always "Tace" (they never can remember the Japanese one).

I do like the Japanese model, though. It's more elegant, I think.

[callistotoni.livejournal.com]

I really-o truely-o am trying to be better about this. I try to use titles when "hosting" or introducing people.

[helblonde.livejournal.com]

I would love it if people were introduced with their full SCA names. I think that's a formality I could live with, too.