I have another name , not madeleine, which my family used when I was younger. But in our house you knew by what you were called the situation. so my father might say my shortened name and then lay the table please, if I didnt do it straight away he would use the same shortened name but the tone was different and he would say I asked you to lay the table . But if he said my full name I had better hurry up and do what i was asked as he would be quite angry. If we had any visitors, they would not know the signals but we did, and again if we were asked to do something it was both the tone and the name used that told us the reality that the visitor might not understand. I am a lecturer and teacher and an eldest, so my way is if someone calls me , in a way I do not like, firstly I will say politely but firmly, my name is ... please call me that. If they annoy me and continue to use my name in a way I do not like, quite often I just do not reply but look at them without blinking. When they look across to see why I havent answered they get the message. My sons name is Daniel, and I always call him that but his friends often shorten it to Dan, which doesnt bother me, but it is up to him, what he likes to be called but of course I have called him daniel since he was a baby, and think I am too old to change now. Mostly like the old song "It aint what you say, its the way that you say it!"
