Addressing members

Submitted by admin on Tue, 2010-07-06 20:39 My Gallery

The following post about addressing members should have been written a long back, however, we hope it is not too late.

We think it is best not to use regional suffixes to names, such as "ji", "avargal" or "gaaru". This is purely from a global standpoint of the site. We receive many emails every week, asking us if using the Hindi suffix "ji" is a requirement. Using the English alternatives such as; Ms/Mr, Sir or madam is a better option, should the need arise.

Comments

Lata

Tue, 2010-07-06 20:50

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However, Mohanaji, is exempt from changing his addressing style.

sjnt

Wed, 2010-07-07 11:24

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The distance becomes more if we use the regional suffixes.

jkmrao

Wed, 2010-07-07 12:26

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Adding the tail jI to a name is understood all over India. Even in Tamilnadu, nobody addresses people like rAjAjI by his full name. Of course, it is another matter that everybody who is somebody in Tamilnadu has an honorific title Actually the addition of jI goes well with men as well as women. Even after being here for more than 30 years, I still am not completely comfortable when a five year old addresses an aged person by his or her first name. In a similar manner I am not comfortable with somebody addressing me as sir also. Addressing by first name always does not translate as friendship or good relations. Even if the boss and the employee call each other by the first name, still everybody knows who the boss is and what (s)he can do! It is only a culture. In fact Mr and Ms are too formal. Looks as if one is attending an interview Of course in India with different languages and different cultures, forms of addresses are also different. I know from literary sources that the telugu suffix gAru is at least four to five hundred years old. I'll go by what others want. It will be a few days of adjustment initially, though.

Regards! - mOhana

Lata

Wed, 2010-07-07 15:51

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I agree with most of your thoughts here, Mohanaji. I think what we meant by this post is that it would be better if we all stick to our own original style of addressing/communicating. By that I meant to say that you need not change anything about how you go about addessing anyone. I think addressing with the suffix "ji" has been your style from the beginning, and we don't see anything wrong with that. On the other hand, there are many members here, who didn't start off that way. They adopted this later on, or rather feel they should adopt the style of using "ji". If someone feels uncomfortable going on a first name basis, maybe they can use Mr/Ms or Mrs...
I tend to use the formal way only when I'm talking to them (or introducing someone to the others in the site) for the first time.

judelined

Thu, 2010-07-08 03:41

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In my opinion I think I am given a name so that it is used and i feel happy when people address me by my name. So dear ikolam friends please take this as an official announcement and feel free to call me Judy without any prefix of suffix

rajamma_2

Thu, 2010-07-08 20:02

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Me too like to be called 'rajam' by everyone irrespective of their age. But I add 'ji' sometimes till they become familiar in the "comment" colomn.( mohana'ji' is exception....... island puzzle yet to be solved?))
rajamma