Dear Mahipaliha,

Sorry for calling you Venerable and for embarrassing you; I thought
you were a monk. I actually live in Myanmar and all my teachers are
monks, and it is a habit here to address monks in this way. I don't
take it as veneration but more like a form of politeness (like the use
of "vous" in French). In Burmese they use terms like Ashin Paya, Saya,
Sayama, Saya Gyi, Daw, Ko...and I always get confused. It is the same
the other way. People just can't call me directly by my normal name
but add U, Sir, Mister or Teacher which I also find funny. Calling you
Saya (Teacher) or even Saya Gyi (Great Teacher) would have been more
appropriate!

Thank you very much again for your clear explanations which I found
very helpful.

U Robert

--- In Pali@yahoogroups.com, "mahipaliha" <mahipal6@...> wrote:
>
> --- In Pali@yahoogroups.com, "flrobert2000" <flrobert2000@> wrote:
> >
> > Dear Venerable Mahipaliha etc.
>
> Dear Friend,
> You are the second person in this group to call me Ven. Mahipaliha. It
> amused me at first, but it is becoming a bit embarassing, because I am
> not a monk and also I do not believe in veneration. Moreover
> mahipaliha is only my Yahoo username, being an abbreviation of my real-
> life name. It's OK calling me mahipaliha,but let's drop the venerable
> part. Thanks and best wishes.
>
> mahipaliha
>