ABSTRACT
A scene on a public street in contemporary U.S.:
‘What’s your name boy?’ the policeman asked…
‘Dr. Poussaint. I’m a physician…’
‘What’s your first name, boy?…’
‘Alvin.’
Poussaint (1967; 53) Anybody familiar with American address rules 1 can tell us the feelings reported by Dr. Poussaint: ‘As my heart palpitated, I muttered in profound humiliation…. For the moment, my manhood had been ripped from me…. No amount of self-love could have salvaged my pride or preserved my integrity…[I felt] self-hate.’ It is possible to specify quite precisely the rule employed by the policeman. Dr. Poussaint’s overt, though coerced, acquiescence in a public insult through widely recognized rules of address is the source of his extreme emotion.