vilakins | Pairings of various kinds

I stopped today on my way to work and took photos of the ads on two local bus stops. I rather like them; the romance one is nicely inclusive, and yay for friendship!

Romance and friendship

Romance! I didn't realise how many reflections I'd get. I upped the brightness but you can still just see my legs there in front of the bench.

Friendship! I'm not sure why these guys are missing a limb each though.

Police wedding
Now I ignore all mail addressed to Greg N- because I'm not him. I especially ignore the stuff addressed to two people called Greg N- because only one Greg lives here and whoever thinks a woman would be called that fails to get my attention. This is particularly bad during card season, but the one that came last week was a wedding invitation from Greg's cousin Michael and his partner of several years, Liz, and they ought to bloody well know better. Eh, we accepted (in our proper names). It's in a park next month, and they're good people.

Michael is one of those who need their daily adrenaline shot. Being on the police's armed offenders squad isn't enough for him; he's also in the Territorials (army volunteers) so he can play macho games in rough country and Borneo--and Liz is in the police too. They're a good match.

Once when we were all round at Greg's sister's place. a woman banged on the door, asking to come in and ring the police because she was out walking and saw some guys breaking into a house. "Oh, we can do better than that," I said. "We have the police." Michael just walked out into the street and flagged their car (packed with electronics) down and arrested them, then called his mates on his mobile. Such was his presence, all three guys just stood there by their car looking miserable till the on-duty police turned up. :-P

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Friendship! I'm not sure why these guys are missing a limb each though.

Aparently they're platonic but co-dependant. ;) Cute pics!

"Oh, we can do better than that," I said. "We have the police."

LOL! Awesome.

Maybe they complete each other! :-)

Yeah, Michael was pretty impressive arresting those guys while in jeans and a t-shirt.

who needs limbs when you have jigsaw pieces?

Um... I'm quite attached to mine, thanks! :-P

Actually it'd have been nice to have someone on the romance one in a wheelchair -that's one kind of inclusivity you don't often get, because people seem to think wheels remove the sex drive.

That would have been good! I've only seen two ads but I'm sure they have heaps more. Huh. I just went to their site and those figure are their style. You can 'create your own Okta ego' (http://www.oktamobile.com/Okta_create.php)'create your own Okta ego'. I might have a proper look tonight to see what selection they offer. I'd hope a wheelchair is included.

Aww, the romance one is quite nice (and probably would never fly here in the US, sadly). The friendship one's just kind of disturbing, though.

I especially ignore the stuff addressed to two people called Greg N-

Is that "Mr. and Mrs. Greg N?" I almost never see that any more, so maybe that's one area where the US is a bit more enlightened. Or maybe I'm just not paying enough attention, what with it not being an issue for me, personally. It seems horribly old-fashioned, though, as well as illogical and sexist and strange. (It always brings me up short, when reading stuff from, say, a century or so ago, when a woman is referred to as something like "Mrs. John Smith." I mean, I know it was a different and far less liberated era, but good gods, surely the woman did in fact have a name. And I'd be very surprised if it were "John.")

It tends to happen on Christmas cards, if anywhere. Sometimes my husband gets cards addressed to both of us that way from people at his workplace who've never met me and don't know my name. But in that case I think they should just address the card to him.

The ancient justification for it is that while Mrs John Smith is Mr Smith's present wife, Mrs Jane Smith indicates his divorced wife. These days, of course, Jane has reverted to her former name and nobody sensible gives a hoot about John's marital arrangements anyhow.

And I'd be very surprised if it were "John."

That is just possible on this benighted side of the pond, if she's a princess, not by birth but by marriage. The wife of Prince Michael of Kent is Princess Michael, because his title functions as a surname. Technically Princess Diana should have been Princess Charles, and when they married Buck House did suggest that to the press, but they weren't having it.

Now that I think about it, I suppose I have seen it often enough on wedding invitations, which tend to be very old-fashioned and formal.

I helped address envelopes to the company Christmas party this years, and it was all "John and Jane Smith" or "John Smith and Jane Jones", or, indeed, just as frequently "Jane Smith and John Jones", if Jane was the employee and John was her husband or S.O. Or, yeah, just "John Smith," and he'd be quite free to bring a date.

The wife of Prince Michael of Kent is Princess Michael, because his title functions as a surname. Technically Princess Diana should have been Princess Charles, and when they married Buck House did suggest that to the press, but they weren't having it.

Do forgive my ignorant-foreigner comment on your country's traditions but... that's kind of fucked-up. :)

I totally agree with that last sentence.

At work here, I don't use titles at all (OK, except for Sir Edmund and Lady June Hillary) and I put the female's name first. It's 'Jane and Boe Bloggs' or 'Jane Citizen and Joe Bloggs'. We've had a couple of complaints from old people and I just tell them that this is the accepted current custom. And it is.

As indeed was the marriage:) Anyway I'm Welsh. We didn't even have surnames until about the 17th century when they were imposed by the dominant angloculture; we got on fine with patronymics, so a woman's name did not change on marriage.

Exactly my thoughts. And as

hafren says, it usually happens in card season.

One of my current Masters writing students is a policeman; he's writing a novel set around his work, and though contemporary realism isn't generally my bag, it's fascinating to see such a background from someone who actually knows it, rather than someone you know damn well is just a visiting novelist doing research.

Oddly enough the new guy at work worked for the police in a previous job, but he mainly dealt with the media, and then he became a journalist dealing with police and other cases. And he's absolutely lovely--and he's the first one I've met there who watches fictional TV. :-)

Those are nice. Though I do wonder why the friend one is missing limbs.

Yeah, that's odd. They're only balanced together?

So even in jeans and t-shirt he has "police" written all over him.

'Authority' anyway. :-) He's pretty laid-back off the job though.

My Parents have first names starting with the same initial, so I tend to address envelopes to 'Mr and Mrs Initial Surname' to stop the first line looking unwieldy. 'Mr Initial and Mrs Identical Initial Surname' or even 'Mr Initial Surname and Mrs Identical Initial Identical Surname' just takes up too much space when our surname is long enough anyway.

Most of their friends just get addressed as 'Firstname and Other Firstname Surname' if I have to send them cards. My friends get 'Firstname (Surname)' or 'Firstname and Other Firstname' generally.

[nods] I just use first names and surnames and don't bother with titles at all (except for work and then only for two Sirs and a Lady). Old people don't like it, but then I don't like them using the wrong title or, worse, the wrong name for me.

Pairings of various kinds

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