A note to all readers

[bhp1]

Note to potential "friends" in the special LiveJournal sense in which "friend" has become a verb: I would like to know who you really are, especially if you'd like to be mutual friends. Please see the nice essay written on this topic by  

Comments

[cheshire_mouse]

I'm Anya Leonteva, and njusha_nn is also me. At least, it was me last year :)

LJ friends

[bhp1]

Anya, thanks! But you didn't have to make that reply public -- are you sure you wanted to? By the way, I love the picture of your daughter with your husband!

Re: LJ friends

[cheshire_mouse]

Oh, thanks! I love 'them' too ;),
the picture, the daughter and haritz.
As for my real name, I think, all (or almost everybody) of your lj-friends have already known who cheshire_mouse is ;)

Re: LJ friends

[haritz]

And I am Lesha Leontiev - the above mentioned husband :) Thank yoг for nice words about our daughter

[thalcave]

Nice to see you Barbara!
It's me:
http://www.philol.msu.ru/~otipl/new/main/people/arxipov.php

Hello!

[bhp1]

Oh, good, hi! I'll add you to my friends list. I saw your journal and could tell you were someone who 'should' be a friend, but I couldn't guess who you were. Nice to see you too!
Best, Barbara

[lamparilla]

Nice to see you here!
I'm Natasha, the OTiPL laborant and a visitor of your course.

[bhp1]

Hi Natasha, I forgot to reply before. Hmm, and now I've noticed that you say "laborant" and not "laborantka" -- hmm, is "laborantka" not used at all, or is the choice of which to use a feminist issue, or ...?

[lamparilla]

"laborant" is a neutral word, which can be used for both sexes; "laborantka" is also possible, but it is used less often. Anyway I won't be insulted if someone calls me "laborantka". From my point of view, this is not a feminist issue. I feel it as a problem of style, other speakers of Russian may feel it differently :) In Russian many words denoting jobs sound less polite in feminine variant (кассирша, секретарша). By the way, this an interesting problem. There are words which are the only possible way to denote feminine prefession (актриса, певица), there are words which are ok in feminine variant, but the masculine variant is also possible (учитель--учительница), there are feminine words which are better to avoid in official style, but they are ok in informal speech (секретарша, лаборантка, кассирша), and some words sound impolite even in informal register (директорша, врачиха)

[bhp1]

Interesting, thanks. English has similar differences, which have been made more complicated and more "loaded" (in the sense of a loaded gun: potentially dangerous topics) by feminist issues. So the word "stewardess" (on an airplane) has been completely withdrawn, because "steward" was too strongly a male term to become neutral, and now they are all "flight attendants". Worse yet, "waiter" and "waitress" have been largely replaced, often by the ugly and awkward word "waitperson", more often now by "server". The word "poetess" exists but most women hate it. Luckily lots of profession names are simply neutral, like "doctor", "teacher", "professor", even "secretary

What a nice surprise!

[hlamushka]

I didn't know you had an lj. I am Maria Tsyurupa.

Re: What a nice surprise!

[bhp1]

Thanks! Hi! I haven't (been on) / (had a) lj for very long - only about a month. And although I'm writing in English, so far I'm reading and writing entirely within the Russian linguistics community. It's interesting!

[kostadinos]

I am a listener of your course.
More details can be found here, in my reply to petrark.

[bhp1]

Thank you, happy to see you here. On your advice, I won't make it "mutual", but I'm glad to have you as a "friend".