Sunday, January 18, 2004
Adventures In Talking
Sam and I usually have people over to watch football on Sundays. This weekend was no exception. My friend from high school, Kevin (yes, the guy in the comment section), and a few of my fraternity brothers, Andy, Justin and Karl came over this weekend. Additionally, Kevin brought his girlfriend, Alison, over for a little while. And Justin's girlfriend was also in town - her name is Alison as well.
Now, Justin and Andy and Karl all obviously know each other, having been in the same fraternity as each other. Additionally, Kevin knows all of them, through me. Kevin's girlfriend has met Justin and Karl, albeit only a couple of times. Also, Justin's girlfriend has met Karl and Kevin as well, I believe. Basically, the only people who didn't know each other were the two Alisons. Wow, that whole paragraph was unnecessary.
So, everyone's over, and Kevin and Alison (Kevin's girlfriend, which should be obvious, unless you know something that Justin should be upset about), show up and walk in. They say hi to those they already know, and then Justin's Alison walks over to Kevin's Alison and extends her hand, in order to introduce herself.
"Alison", she says, as she approaches Kevin's Alison, in a somewhat straight tone of voice, announcing her own name.
"Yes." comes the reply. And then they both just stand there, in a moment of silence, both not sure of exactly what happened. Justin's Alison believes she's introduced herself, while Kevin's Alison believes she is being addressed. (And probably wonders why this girl knows her name.) And then I break into laughter, realizing how strange that was. Everyone else takes a bit longer, especially the Alisons, who are probably pretty confused. But eventually, they sort it all out. Still, I thought it was very funny. I wonder how often that happens. There are plenty of people with the same first name. But it takes someone to introduce themself by just stating their name, instead of saying "I'm Melvin", which I would assume is still fairly common. (The means of introduction, not the name Melvin.)
That the depth of my thoughts tonight.
Oh, one more thought: English needs a gender-neutral third person pronoun. "Them" is wrong, but oh so convenient! Why don't we have one?
Now, Justin and Andy and Karl all obviously know each other, having been in the same fraternity as each other. Additionally, Kevin knows all of them, through me. Kevin's girlfriend has met Justin and Karl, albeit only a couple of times. Also, Justin's girlfriend has met Karl and Kevin as well, I believe. Basically, the only people who didn't know each other were the two Alisons. Wow, that whole paragraph was unnecessary.
So, everyone's over, and Kevin and Alison (Kevin's girlfriend, which should be obvious, unless you know something that Justin should be upset about), show up and walk in. They say hi to those they already know, and then Justin's Alison walks over to Kevin's Alison and extends her hand, in order to introduce herself.
"Alison", she says, as she approaches Kevin's Alison, in a somewhat straight tone of voice, announcing her own name.
"Yes." comes the reply. And then they both just stand there, in a moment of silence, both not sure of exactly what happened. Justin's Alison believes she's introduced herself, while Kevin's Alison believes she is being addressed. (And probably wonders why this girl knows her name.) And then I break into laughter, realizing how strange that was. Everyone else takes a bit longer, especially the Alisons, who are probably pretty confused. But eventually, they sort it all out. Still, I thought it was very funny. I wonder how often that happens. There are plenty of people with the same first name. But it takes someone to introduce themself by just stating their name, instead of saying "I'm Melvin", which I would assume is still fairly common. (The means of introduction, not the name Melvin.)
That the depth of my thoughts tonight.
Oh, one more thought: English needs a gender-neutral third person pronoun. "Them" is wrong, but oh so convenient! Why don't we have one?
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