Question of the week #14

[treonb]

The writers of this show seem to have a love for full formal names when it comes to the KGB side of the Cold War. Philip is always Philip, never Phil, and Elizabeth is never Liz or Beth either--and this despite the fact that Russian names all inherently have multiple alternate forms that everyone simply uses as a matter of course. The same goes for Robert, the other Directorate S illegal who we've met, and for that matter, for Gregory (who's not Russian, but whose own culture isn't exactly known for its lack of informal names).

Given this, the question of the week is a two-parter: one, what do you think the writers are up to with this? And two, any thoughts on an explanation for this that works within the world of the show?

You can expect spoilers for the entire first season in the comments.

(There's no expiration date on these questions, so if you're reading this post months later and feel like jumping in, please do.)

Comments

[jae]

Ok, because for all we know, Gregory might have a nickname, but Elizabeth never uses it, and therefore by extension neither does Philip.

*nodding* That works for me. But WHY would Elizabeth never use it? I like katiac's reasoning behind why she doesn't use short forms for herself or for Philip, but why would that extend to Gregory?

-J

[katiac]

Fascinating question. Throwing ideas out...

Would calling him "Greg" invite him to call her "Liz" and/or bring up discussion on the subject? Elizabeth seems to operate a lot on pushing stuff out of her head and preferring not to think about topics that are uncomfortable. This would be a big one.

Does she project some idea of how she feels onto Gregory? Like does she prefer to think that he would be as uncomfortable "settling in" to the idea of nicknames as she is because she connects that with being okay with the American way of doing things? Interestingly, she and Gregory can't really connect at all in a Russian sense, like she can with Phil, so I got the sense they connected in more of an anti-American sense, or at least that they both were so unhappy with the way things were in the US. Gregory having that same level of discomfort she does with being there would be something she'd connect with, nicknames just being another example, IMHO.

[jae]

Thank you for helping with this (and yes, in case you were wondering, this whole question was totally about me outsourcing the brainstorming about my conundrum about Gregory's name to you folks *g*)!

I guess it seems to me that if others were calling Gregory 'Greg' but SHE called him 'Gregory', that would draw attention to it rather than inviting a nickname for her own cover name. And then there's the fact that she would have initially met Gregory under a more temporary name anyway (like, she wouldn't have gotten involved in the SCLC under the name 'Elizabeth Jennings'). So the first option doesn't quite work for me, although I could still be talked into it.

The second one, though...maybe! I guess I have to figure out what that would have looked like to him, though, if she was introduced to him as Greg but she called him Gregory. And what the conversation they would have had about that would have been like.

-J