Age Reckoning and Cultural Norms
The conversation starts with South Korea's abandonment of the traditional "Korean age" system, sparking discussion about how different cultures calculate and perceive age.
- The original post references articles about South Korea's abandonment of their traditional age reckoning, citing previous HN discussions.
- "Those Korean kids born on December 31st must be the kings and queens of their peer group when they become eligible to buy alcohol two years ahead of the others!" - 9dev
- "Not really because everyone starts at one, so at most it's one year younger those born on Jan 1st. Also their peer group usually being people born the same year, everyone gets to drink at the exact same time (unlike in other countries where everyone reach drinking age at their birthday)." - eloisant
- "A friend (not Korean) said on his 29th birthday that he's starting his 30th year of life. It was an interesting perspective, because in general we celebrate our nth birthday after completing n years of life." - netsharc
- "Personally I prefer to round 29 years 6 months up to «I’m now 30 years old». As you would expect to happen if you run round(29.5). For some reason, most cultures settled on either floor(age) or ceil(age)." - setopt
- "The traditional system in China and its surroundings, 虛歲, is that you're born at the age of 1 and your age increases on the new year." - thaumasiotes
- "It's definitely a birthday, hence the name. It's the day you turn 0." - mkl
- "Curiously I guess most of us celebrate the number of years completed." - netsharc
Formality in Address: First Names vs. Last Names and Titles
A significant portion of the discussion revolves around the use of first names, last names, and titles in different cultures and contexts, highlighting varying preferences and sensitivities. Many users find the use of first names by strangers inappropriate, while others find titles elitist.
- "I love this. I'm an old French guy and still can't quite accept when srangers in an email (or a machine, a system, a web form) adress me using my first name. Being "on a first name basis" still has meaning for me -- or it would, if it had for anyone else, which clearly is absolutely not the case anymore." - bambax
- "The meaning was never there in the first place, you just were taught that it is there. Adapt." - myst replying to the prior speaker.
- "All language is socially constructed. It's still annoying when people try to change the meanings of words." - lmm
- "Interesting, as a German (which also has a similar system), I am the complete opposite, I find it super irritating when people address me by my last name. And the worst part is having to figure out how to address others, especially people you've known for a while but aren't really close to, e.g. say long-time neighbors I rarely meet." - benediktwerner
- "It's quite common, even the norm these days, to address people by their first names in professional settings, among colleagues. The thing is that this is also becoming/has become the norm when you get correspondance from strangers when the standard etiquette is to use title + surname, as in all European countries, I suppose." - mytailorisrich
- "Well, I personally find title + surname the worst; it's obnoxious and elitist; my (first) name isn't "engineer". I can live with it, though. I just kinda hate people who demand it of others. So, clearly, you can't please everybody." - ncruces
- "Not all European countries. We phased the title and surname addressing out during the 70s here in Sweden" - fmbb
- "Personally I get annoyed only if a sales person addresses me by first name. There is no other setting where I would prefer a stranger to address me using my full name, unless we’re in some context where there are dozens or hundreds of strangers so one can not expect my name is unique." - fmbb
- "I appreciate that too at my former university in Germany, it's kinda "very modern" and people always use their first names for everything, professors and students alike. But it gets complicated when emailing professors that are only losely related to the uni." - bryanhogan
- "It's interesting. My closest friends use my last name, while everyone else uses my first name at work. Apparently it was a hangover from the custom at old British public schools that some old Indian schools retained into the 70s/80s. I sort of like it." - sumanthvepa
- "Last name address is when things get real. Government and divorse lawyers real. Time to sober up and answer carefully. Not a good feeling, when people do it. The only thing worse is name + patronymic. That could never be good news." - Muromec
- "This is remarkable because from my outsider glimpse German culture puts an emphasis on formality and credentials. If someone has a signature like "Dr. Ing. Prof. Anselm Schultz" am sure not opening my email with "Hi Anselm"" - varjag
- "It changed a lot in the last 25 years. But it can depend from place to place. One of my friends has a Master of Engineering and he was a bit surprised when somebody in Austria addressed him with "Oh, Herr Ingenieur!"" - tauchunfall
- "Austria is special. Using an academic title is customary, and job titles are still common. Many foreigners think Austria and Germany are similar in terms of culture, but there are notable differences between the two countries that can be traced back to their history. I have an Austrian mother and a German father, so I experienced both cultures." - smartmic
Language and Social Change
Implicit in the discussion of names and address is the constant evolution of language and social norms. Users express both frustration at changes in custom ("cultural imperialism") and acceptance of the fluid nature of language.
- "Cultural imperialism" - allendoerfer replying to a user expressing his discomfort with first names in professional correspondence.
- "That's literally all language." - BDPW, responding to a comment about changing the meanings of words.