Tagunov-sama,
On Monday, March 25, 2002, at 07:24 , Anton Tagunov wrote:
Hello, Dan!
Would you allow a curiosity question:
you sometimes write "Sadahiro-san" what is this
- a humor
- a normal form of addressing, like Mr.
- something to give honor to a person, like 'de' in French
language or Esq. in Britain (like John Smith, Esq. - short
of esquire)
The subject answers your question. To be more exact, "-san" is a casual
form of "-sama" and considered casual. Here is a list of Japanese
honorifics;
[none] Considered rude; Allowed only within very close friends or
family members.
-san Casual. Okay for friends but should be avoided in formal
writings
-sama Formal and universal. When in doubt, use this one.
-chan More casual than '-san'. Used to address kids and females only
but unisexual these days
-kun Formal but should only be used for juniors. Used to address
males
only but unisexual these days.
-dono Formal but should only be used by (elders|ones with higher
social
status) to address juniors. But many Japanese tend to forget
that.
FYI, the Japanese government tend to address its people with
this
and this really pisses me off (even more than name-calling! I
love
Dan for its simplicity). Hey, I am Mr. Taxpayer and you public
servants pay some respect ;)
Dan the Man with Too Many Honorifics to Use
