A gentle reminder when talking about about the presumptive Democratic nominee for President, from someone who doesn't talk politics here:
Referring to someone by their last name is generally a sign of respect. Referring to someone by their first name is generally a sign of intimacy. Consider how people have referred, in short form, to other nominees and Presidents:
Bush, Clinton, Gore, Bush, Kerry, Obama, Romney, McCain, Biden, Trump
And then
Hillary and Kamala
See a pattern?
*Harris* is running for President. Personally, until she invites me to use her first name, I'll be treating her with the same baseline level of respect I treat other Presidential candidates.
Maybe you should too.
@Impossible_PhD I think we deferred to "Hillary" because that other Clinton was still pretty fresh on our minds at the time. At least to me, it felt more respectful to distance her from the shenanigans of her husband.
And I in no way ever utter the name "Trump" out of any form of respect. š¬
@Shdwdrgn I submit as a counterpoint:
Bush, and Bush. We didn't even use Junior. He didn't become W until he was elected.
Just Bush.
@Impossible_PhD I can't disagree there, and I do agree with you about calling our VP by her name "Harris". I'll even admit I fell into calling her "Kamala" on Sunday when I heard the news, but quickly changed tracks once I thought about it. Yeah I know, seems like my first instinct is a double-standard, but really what I had in mind was that I never pay any attention to the VP's, and calling her "Harris" just felt like I was trying to bury the fact that she is a woman.
It's harder to get things right the first time when I grew up in a time that the N* word was still in very common every-day usage, but i try to think about what I'm doing and how I can do better to counter those bad habits I learned as a kid. I promise I will always try.
@Shdwdrgn
Not from your country, so probs way out of my lane. However we've had a few strong women in politics here. Please use the same naming conventions you would for a man. It doesn't bury the fact she's a woman, it helps stop that one characteristic being the main thing people focus on. And allowing her opposition to get away with making that the whole story isn't helpful.
My thinking's informed by listening to what people said for 15 years of women prime ministers here
@Impossible_PhD @Shdwdrgn Anecdotal counterpoint, for all it counts for - Jeb Bush has, as best as I can tell, never just been called Bush.
Somehow, he broke that spell of reusing the same last name for multiple people, I guess?
@Impossible_PhD Unless Iām misinterpreting things, it seems she *is* inviting it! Her campaignās Twitter account is āKamala HQā, the campaign store sells mugs with a āKamalaā signatureā¦as far as I can tell, she seems comfortable being called either Harris *or* Kamala.
And this seems pretty standard for presidential candidates tbh! Sanders would go by Bernie, OāRourke would go by Beto, Booker tried to go by Coryā¦I donāt think using the first name is disrespectful for a candidate!
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