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Comment by mrspeaker | Hacker News Reader

Is it a cultural thing (american?) that everyone here is calling her "Marissa Mayer" or "MM" or "Ms Mayer"? No one would say "Mr Mayer", or "Dave Mayer" or "DM" in a hacker news comment, they just say "Mayer". Is that a traditional thing, or is it specific to Mayer?

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I guess something in the name makes it feel more natural to use the full name.

In the case of Bill Gates for example, I rarely see anyone using "Gates", the full name "Bill Gates" is used.

Does not explain Ms Mayer though.

Look up my post history, I referred to Warren Buffet as Mr. Buffet. It's a sign of respect for someone you are discussing but have no personal connection to. Nothing sinister going on here.

The "Ms Mayer" is likely because this is a discussion about her executive compensation. The official Yahoo SEC filings regarding her comp use that term over and over: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1011006/000119312515...

I've never heard the title Ms used in America much at all, especially not compared to use I've heard in several Commonwealth countries. It sticks out at me as being unusual in this thread. But then, even within the US you have big linguistic variations. In Silicon Valley you'll almost never hear anyone addressed as "Ma'am" or "Sir" as that seems too formal, but in the South many people use such titles even in more casual settings with anyone who is their superior or a relative stranger.

Most people I know (which is mainly people from Western states) would refer to her as Marissa Mayer, and the same with any other well-known executive (e.g. Elon Musk, Richard Branson, Sheryl Sandberg, Mark Zuckerberg, etc.) How would you expect her to be named in conversation based on where you're from?

On Hacker News specifically, "Zuckerberg" seems to be more frequently used than the full "Mark Zuckerberg".

And quite a few Hackers seem to be on a first name basis with Elon and Linus.

> "Zuckerberg" seems to be more frequently used than the full "Mark Zuckerberg".

Eh, I'm not sure I would agree with that.

> And quite a few Hackers seem to be on a first name basis with Elon and Linus.

They have fairly unique names. It's extremely unlikely that "Elon" and "Linus" would refer to anyone other than Musk and Torvalds in the context of HN discussions.

Definitely not the case for names like "Mark", "Bill", or "Steve".

> No one would say "Mr Mayer", or "Dave Mayer" or "DM" in a hacker news comment

A few examples come to mind: Steve Jobs, Larry Ellison, Bill Gates.

And to say nobody would use initials here, what about PG himself?

People here have been known to use PG when referring to Paul Graham and RMS when referring to Richard Matthew Stallman.

Mayer/Mair/Meier/Mayr is a short and common family name.

Perhaps we should start adding the middle name like the media does w/ murderers. It could become a badge of dishonor for CEOs that kill companies while taking crazy pay.

Marrisa Ann Mayer / MAM may not have dealt the final blow to the already injured Yahoo but she added a few stab wounds and drew from the dwindling fortunes of an elderly Yahoo.

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