On Introductions
Title: On Introductions.
Original fic
400(ish) words
AN: this... happened? I don't even know. Shows what you can do on a coffee break. Sort of influenced by a conversation I had with my Religious Studies professor like three years ago. I'm not sure if I've managed to make it clear what they're doing and who they are.
The custom of exchanging names with somebody when you first meet them in a friendly way is not merely so that you have something to call one another. If you think about it you hardly ever need to use a person's name in conversation.
It is a symbol of trust, of the assumptions that need to be made for a society to function - that other people in the world are not out to get you. This is why doors are held for people behind you, this is why small-talk is made with acquaintances, even (especially) when you don't care how they are, really - and if one said anything too far from the socially acceptable "fine thank-you" or perhaps (stretching it - but acceptable for those in occupations known to be stressful at a given time) a shrug and "you know how it is". It is why you say your 'please' and your 'thank-you' for the slightest prompting in public.
It is why you shake hands with a person you are introduced to - it says "I am not holding a weapon right now". Society has developed these rules for functioning, that signal to people that they are here to if not work together, not harm one another.(1)
The exact reasoning behind many of these signals has long been lost(2), and since the customs are ever-evolving it would be nearly impossible to find the original reasons behind everything.
So there is an exchange of names. Names have power, so by giving another a piece of your name in exchange for a piece of theirs, you place each other in equal positions, as each will have some small power over the other. A person's name from their own lips is a powerful thing indeed - though of course many have forgotten the old ways.
So this is why a being like I am sitting in an over-crowded popular coffee shop. You never know who is going come through, with their name recklessly on their lips for just anybody who stands and offers an outstretched hand.
Really, the Starbucks age makes my job so much easier.
(1)It is also the reason dogs sniff each other's butts, but humans never seem to appreciate that comparison.
(2)Though knowing what I do of humans I doubt it was ever really thought through for what is was, at the time.
P.S.: Julnowrimo is very close and I'm considering trying it out to make myself write while I can, this summer. November never works because it's midterms and assignments and then right before finals for fall term.
Original fic
400(ish) words
AN: this... happened? I don't even know. Shows what you can do on a coffee break. Sort of influenced by a conversation I had with my Religious Studies professor like three years ago. I'm not sure if I've managed to make it clear what they're doing and who they are.
The custom of exchanging names with somebody when you first meet them in a friendly way is not merely so that you have something to call one another. If you think about it you hardly ever need to use a person's name in conversation.
It is a symbol of trust, of the assumptions that need to be made for a society to function - that other people in the world are not out to get you. This is why doors are held for people behind you, this is why small-talk is made with acquaintances, even (especially) when you don't care how they are, really - and if one said anything too far from the socially acceptable "fine thank-you" or perhaps (stretching it - but acceptable for those in occupations known to be stressful at a given time) a shrug and "you know how it is". It is why you say your 'please' and your 'thank-you' for the slightest prompting in public.
It is why you shake hands with a person you are introduced to - it says "I am not holding a weapon right now". Society has developed these rules for functioning, that signal to people that they are here to if not work together, not harm one another.(1)
The exact reasoning behind many of these signals has long been lost(2), and since the customs are ever-evolving it would be nearly impossible to find the original reasons behind everything.
So there is an exchange of names. Names have power, so by giving another a piece of your name in exchange for a piece of theirs, you place each other in equal positions, as each will have some small power over the other. A person's name from their own lips is a powerful thing indeed - though of course many have forgotten the old ways.
So this is why a being like I am sitting in an over-crowded popular coffee shop. You never know who is going come through, with their name recklessly on their lips for just anybody who stands and offers an outstretched hand.
Really, the Starbucks age makes my job so much easier.
(1)It is also the reason dogs sniff each other's butts, but humans never seem to appreciate that comparison.
(2)Though knowing what I do of humans I doubt it was ever really thought through for what is was, at the time.
P.S.: Julnowrimo is very close and I'm considering trying it out to make myself write while I can, this summer. November never works because it's midterms and assignments and then right before finals for fall term.