Languary 24

[rix_scaedu]

Now we can ask questions, including a couple of polite greetings, but what we really want to know when we meet someone for the first time is who they are.

We already know that:

chotuy = Who are you? (unfamiliar person)

This might get you a name but it might also get you an answer along the lines of, “I’m here to fix the air-conditioning,” which is fine, but not so good if you wanted a name.

To get a name, you have several options:

choloshchtm – What is your name? Loshch is the noun for ‘name’ and loshcheg is the associated verb ‘to name’.

chofomdtm – What is your designation? From fomdge the adjective ‘designated’, fomd the noun ‘designation’, and fomdeg to ‘designate’. Might get you a name, might get you a rank/technical classification, and a serial number. Frankly, it’s a somewhat odd usage.

chorompentontm – What is your style? This is a formal request because you are not only asking the person’s name, but also what titles and rank they might hold. This is the time for the obnoxious/incriminating given name to be admitted to and for them to bring up that they are 3^rd Duke of Cumerbatch and a Knight of the Order of the Green Nettle….

chokopapoyu tuyker – “What should I call you?” or, more precisely, “How should I be addressing you?” This could also be chokopapoyu tuyker hay but that is an emphatic structure that would be interpreted as “What should I call you?”

In response to chokopapoyu tuyker, kopapuyoyu haym Ischmael (Call me Ischmael) would be a perfectly adequate and polite response. It is an acceptable response to choloshchtm but simply avoids answering chorompentontm at all and would be considered rude, unless Ishmael is, indeed his entire name and he has no rank or titles.