... or, as a former colleague of mine used to do, to have been a visiting professor and to continue to use the title long after his visit was over, as it were; once again, to the considerable amusement of the rest of us.

As MabelJane isn't here to post Professor Branestawm the task falls to me:



                            

Now that's a noticeable cultural difference. In Russia most conductors will use the full unshortened forename of players in rehearsal - "Alexander - a real sostenuto at bar 116, please" - and never "Sasha", "Galya", or "Lyosha". It's a mark of respect which the players appreciate.  (More cynically they may also appreciate the fact that the conductor actually knows their name )

On the topic of nicknames or abbreviated names, I've heard that they're especially common in Copenhagen...I remember reading some journal article once that was about a survey showing that of american students who spent a summer, or year, or whatever, in the netherlands at school, there was a strong correlation between the enjoyment of the students over the year, and their tendency to abbreviate their own names (when they were writing them down on the report) afterwards.  Which is interesting when one thinks about it.

Ah, here it is:
The Social Psychology of Name Change: Reflections on a Serendipitous Discovery, # Darrel W. Drury and John D. McCarthy, Social Psychology Quarterly, Vol. 43, No. 3 (Sep., 1980), pp. 310-320

(will need a subscription though, alas).

What's even worse is Mrs Bill Short t-p. Presumably it dates from the days when women were owned by their husbands?

I must say that I feel quite awkward when someone I'm talking to face-to-face calls me Mr D..............

I dislike being called Andrew, but I don't correct people, I let them choose.

I was surprised the other day when my mother said that my brother had addressed her sister as "Auntie", I always call her Jo. I've always insisted that my nephew and niece call me Andy though my niece takes the piss sometimes by referring to me as "Uncle Andy".

Richard,

Thanks for that.    If I understand correctly: R3 management destroyed an online community in February 2007, with redesign, new posting rules and heavy modding. They did a U-turn in June 2007, reversed the redesign, relaxed the posting rules, and told the mods to pull their horns in. Correct?

This is telling:


I’d say R3 management didn’t know how to cope with a strong online community, so the instinct of some was to destroy it. I’ve seen the same when a trade union gets going in a non-unionised workplace. Some managers literally go bonkers. They’re so used to power flowing downwards through a strict hierarchy that when it starts flowing upwards (before collective bargaining structures are established or the union chased out) their world turns upside down. I suspect the old R3 cyber-community had that effect on some BBC managers.

This is odd:


Each R3 forum page -- there are thousands of them -- is tagged to keep out search engines. BBC management don’t want the message board debate indexed by Google. I wonder why?

The other point of tension is paid moderators on BBC employment contracts. When push comes to shove they’ll always do what their bosses tell them. They’ll act in the management’s interests, not the community’s. They’ll enforce their employment contracts or face disciplinary action.

On most forums power works differently. Mods have control of the ban and censorship buttons but they’re accountable, in part, to members. It’s usually bloody, but a bad mod can be got rid of (by members) a stupid ban/censorship policy changed (by members) and site structure modified (by members).

It looks as if you faced the situation in February 2007 of mods acting on instructions from above, which they were contractually obliged to obey, and members had no immediate control over management policy, mod behaviour or site structure. Given that background it’s amazing you won and the policy was reversed. Or would the policy have been reversed without this site? I doubt it. Everything the mods tried to censor on TOP was simply posted here, so the censorship was subverted and R3 management made to look silly (in Private Eye no less  ).

It's a shame there's no dedicated modern music forum. Has that been lobbied for? What's the official argument against?


Philidor
11-Plus

Robert Dahm,
It is very interesting to know more about Australia. I was told that Californian culture is very close to Australian. I don't know myself because I never visited Australia. They certainly have similar climate.

Reiner,
 I don't know this book by A. Belyi "Peterburg".  I remember reading about him in different books, but nothing stayed in my mind.

About patronymic you probably know yourself that people in villages, who know each other very well often drop Christian name of a person they are in conversation with. It is some kind of expression of endearment. 
This tradition is picked up by people that you are talking about (intelligensia). They drop the Christian name in favour of patronymic and use it in a special endearing way.

George Garnett, You have a good picture of stereotipical professor. Thank you for posting him.

Thank you, Reiner,

Have a good trip.
Our friend promised to come to fix mobile phone (I forgot it home last evening)
He has an interesting book to read, but I could not get it from the net. He is going to help. We will see if you know it.

Safe journey for now,