Names without frontiers

[stevev@greylady.uoregon.edu (Steve VanDevender)]

Stev0 covers some of the bases, but not all of them:

>But when you think about it, when we refer to female artists in
>general, what do we call them?  Kate, Laurie, Yoko, etc.  First names.
>When we refer to male artists?  Gabriel, Clapton, Gilmour, etc.
>Last names.  We refer to children and those of lesser stature by
>first names, adults and those of higher social stature by last name
>(usually preceeded by "Mr.", "Dr.", or even "Ms." (although the
>Powers That Be frown on this last one)).

We also tend to refer to people who are personally significant to
us by first name rather than last name.

For shorthand purposes on this group, commonly discussed female
artists do tend to be referred to by first name, although
certainly not because we consider them to be of inferior status.

However, I do not recall frequently referring to male artists by
last name only.  It is generally "Peter Gabriel", "Eric Clapton",
"David Gilmour".  Simply because male artists are less frequently
discussed here, we is less likely to develop the same terms of
familiarity.

I think your point, while interesting and provocative, just
can't hold up as well here as it would in another context.