>> We know that Noish-Pa, Ibronka and Vlad's >> father (do you suppose Vlad will ever forgive his father enough to start >> referring to him by name?) >Do you refer to your father by name? No, but I don't refer to my grandfather by first-name either, yet Vlad clearly does. (Unless "Noish-pa" is some sort of Hungarian/Fenarian endearment. That's certainly possible given that Kelly is the only person who's greeted Noish-pa by name and he addressed him by his patronymic rather than his given name.) Regardless, it seems a bit odd that Vlad has given us all kinds of details about his father but never his given name. It strikes me as being a way to depersonalize him and keep him at a distance.