Hacker News Reader

To be fair, there was another famous Clinton that could make this confusing. I've never heard of Condoleezza Rice, Sarah Palin or Angela Merkel being called by just their first name, although I admit that I don't often hear them being called by just their last name either (maybe except Merkel).

View on HN

Condoleezza Rice was often referred to as "Condi" in the media. I think a lot of it has to do with information theory: there are two famous Clintons, several famous Rices, and hundreds of famous Sarahs.

I stand corrected on that one, I'd personally only ever heard of her referred to by her full name, but that's just my own ignorance.

And that might be a German peculiarity.

Co-workers who have known each other for longer than they have known their spouses address each other as Herr Schulze and Frau Schmidt.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com