Antipixel got a great Word a Day:
teknonym (TEK-nuh-nim) noun: A name derived from a child’s name that is used to address a parent. For example, Johnsdad (as opposed to Johnson).
Now, I first liked the word because it sounds cool. Plus it starts with tekno, which made me think it might have to do with music at first. ^_^. But, more interesting was reading about how it applied to him.
Teknonymy elegantly solves an interesting problem in Japanese: when the father of a child is “Aoki-san” and the mother of a child is also “Aoki-san,” how do you refer to each when in the presence of both of them (in a language where first names are rarely used at this level of intimacy)? Spouses can use each other’s first names (they’ll also use teknonyms for each other when speaking to others) but for anyone else to do so would most often be presumptuous. Teknonymy — and A Word a Day — to the rescue. [Antipixel | blog | Teknonymy]
How very cool. Learning how various languages is fascinating to me, even if I seem to have a hard time picking them up. One of these days though I will learn Japanese.
