> One of my chefy friends had a great rule about who she voluntarily eats food > with - it is people she wouldn't mind exchanging bodily fluids with
On the other side of this, I often have to decide, when relating anecdotes, whether to label someone a "friend" or a "colleague", and generally make that decision on the basis of "how often have we eaten together" (literal com-pan-ionship?). Less important is the question of using formal (V) or informal (T) second person pronouns. I generally[0] stick to V except with people I either interact with frequently or share meals with on the infrequent occasions we're in contact. In particular, when switching from V to T, tradition would say a shared drink is required. I've seen historical dramas where there're even rituals like interlacing of elbows while consuming the drinks, but the alcohol can be forgone in the modern world. (on the other hand, I used to live in a fairly egalitarian area with a drinking culture, and there it was universal practice for "team building" to involve an opening round of drinks to create a de facto, if not de jure[1], T default) -Dave [0] note for Chris: only took a few decades, but I've finally mastered T'ing animals and children without having to think about it! \o/ [1] note for cell phone translators: V _is_ the default; when you default to T you risk being lumped in with barbarians such as McDonald's. note also that the english V form is, in fact, "you". -- Silklist mailing list [email protected] https://mailman.panix.com/listinfo.cgi/silklist
