forms of address

[finwitch]

No: HPFGUIDX 116197



 
> Carol adds:
> 
> McGonagall, in contrast, rarely uses first names except when she's
> addressing certain colleagues (notably Severus Snape) in an > 
> At any rate, and I really want a British perspective on this, it 
seems
> to me that men and women follow slightly different traditions in
> Britain. Among schoolboys and male colleagues (in private
> conversation), last names are the norm and first names indicate a
> close friendship, is that correct? Or do last names denote enmity
> ("Malfoy," for example) while anyone who's not an enemy (say Ernie
> MacMillan) would be called by his first name? McGonagall, it seems 
to
> me, is trying to follow the first version of this tradition, with
> Dumbledore as a colleague except on those few occasions when her
> emotions get to her, in which case she treats him as an intimate
> friend. But she's following the *male* tradition if she's following
> anything at all.

Finwitch:

I think it's more of a case of 'depends on the people involved'. 
Using someone's surname only does not necessarily mean enmity or even 
distance as such...

1)Nymphadora Tonks *prefers* to be known only by her surname.

2)We might also look on *other* british books like those of Sherlock 
Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Holmes and Watson address each 
other by last names all the time, and they ARE friends.

About Albus Dumbledore, well... that Professor who examined him is 
ALSO calling him Dumbledore! (If Dumbledore doesn't want to be 
found...)

Anyway, I'm positive that Aberforth Dumbledore calls him Albus or 
possibly some nickname - honest, two brothers referring to each other 
by surname - the surname they both *share*?

Finwitch