[MPlayer-cvslog] CVS: main AUTHORS,1.176,1.177

[The Wanderer]

Attila Kinali wrote:

> On Mon, 10 Apr 2006 00:10:36 -0400 Rich Felker <dalias at aerifal.cx>
> wrote:
> 
>>> As I understand matters, the primary rationale behind this 'rule'
>>> is that it is far more likely that two people will have the same
>>> personal name/first name than it is that they will have the same
>>> surname, and so
>> 
>> This is nonsense. It's totally dependent on the particular language
>> and the opposite is actually true in many cases.
> 
> Uhm, can you back that up? My experiance here in europe, as in asia
> is that there are far more people with the same first name than with
> the same family name.

I expect that he's thinking of things like Islamic nations, where
(exaggeration alert) the name of every third male comes from a short
list exemplified by such apellations as "Ali" and "Muhammad".

>> Besides, do you know people by their first names or their family
>> names? First names of course.
> 
> For me it's about half/half. Some people i know just by their family
> name, even some close friends. I always get puzzled when someone is
> refering to them by their first name.

And, in an online context, half the time you don't really know them by
either... in point of fact, I'd be very surprised if any of you knew
either my personal name *or* my surname without looking in my
(deservedly brief) entry in the AUTHORS file.

(Incidentally, apologies if any of this is irrelevant. I haven't gotten
any sleep since noon yesterday.)

-- 
       The Wanderer

Warning: Simply because I argue an issue does not mean I agree with any
side of it.

Secrecy is the beginning of tyranny.