this post was submitted on 30 Dec 2025
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Japanese nails it with their -san and -senpai and -sama. The only part they care about is whether someone is your senior or not, no matter their married status
That's not good either. Age based discrimination and subservience to elders needs to die off too.
Even the polite honorifics are garbage, "You can't say that, you must speak posh to your boss"
I don't see it that way at all though i guess it comes from my Vietnamese background where everyone gets an honorific, especially family. It makes it easier to know exactly who you're talking about if they have the same name.
Also, in Japanese, -chan and use of first name instead of last name gives very clear information that you've gone from acquaintance to friend.
Personally, i like 'em. Feels different being called Mrs.
Filial piety is authoritarian, hierarchical, and abusive.
How is any of what I said filial piety though? I get that unquestioned authority can lead to abuse, having experienced it myself and I don't practice it at all, but the naming conventions for the Vietnamese and Japanese languages don't relate to that.
If anything, it's a form of social structure - if you're an acquaintance, you're referred to in a certain way that is widely considered polite and friendly, if you're being aggressive to someone you are referred to in another way.
I don't know. I just like things orderly and easy to understand. Taking all of the above away just makes social interactions much more tedious.
Edit: just reading back on the chain of communication, I'd like to clarify that I agree with the age based discrimination should be changed but wholeheartedly disagree with removing the polite honorifics. Nothing wrong with being nice, unless the person deserves otherwise.