View Message

Not in real life! Only on Opinions boards, where I'm projecting my own comfort-zone onto anyone who is "like me." In real life, I encounter people as individuals, not members of cultural/national/ethnic groups. I mean, everyone carries around stereotypes that set some expectations, because that helps us not be numbskulled - and I'm no exception .... but an individual who doesn't conform to my expectations isn't "weird" or "distasteful" in any situation IMO. So if someone "in my group" used a name I would not be comfy using, myself - it would just indicate that they're not as much like me as my stereotypes suggest.

---

I'm a monolingual "Anglo" American.
There are names I wouldn't be comfy using myself and I might say it seemed weird, in theory, for "someone like me" to use them (although I don't really think I'd react that way in real life).
All of them would be unusual usages if someone "like me" used them. Once they're popularized it doesn't matter anymore.
I guess I have discomfort based on ...
- feeling I'm too ignorant about the "home" context,
- feeling incompetent to pronounce,
- feeling like it sounds like / reminds of something negative in English language or American culture,
- feeling like there's a historical, cultural, or political norm, in the US, that the name can be used by people to deliberately distinguish themselves as members of a group I'm not connected with.

---

- mirfak

This message was edited 9/6/2023, 9:05 PM