>> No, you are not alone. I suppose people forget that, when we send
>> messages addressed to particular individuals, we are also sending
>> that same message to everyone else on the list. If you aim a bucket
>> of water at someone, everyone else gets soaked in the process.
>>
>> There have been two kinds of name-calling in the last few days:
>>
>> a) Using an offensive word like "monkey" or "ape";
>>
>> b) Altering someone's name into some sort of sarcastic nickname,
>> e.g. MO for Matanya Ophee, Uncle Albert for Albert Reyerman, and St.
>> McCoy for me.
I personally find the use of initials a term of endearment, even for such a
sklochnik as MO (there is also an added analogy here with an American
acronym "BO").
"St.McCoy" on the other hand is designed to convey the saintliness of the
subject. I'd have thouhgt that Stewart is a "Mr.Rogers" of the lutenists'
neighborhood, if I didn't know what he looked like.
RT
>> Calling someone by a name other than their correct name is puerile,
>> and has the opposite effect from the one intended. Name-calling is
>> designed to hurt someone by making fun of them, but it is inevitably
>> the name-caller who ends up looking foolish, because it reflects the
>> paucity of his thought. It is all very tiresome, and I do wish it
>> would stop.
>> Best wishes,
>>
>> Stewart McCoy.
