I think it's mostly "what sounds better", which comes down to cadence a lot of the time. I think when it sounds about the same either way I usually list the person I've known longer first, unless we're having a conversation that's focused on the other. (But if that happens, the names have already been introduced and "they" is probably appropriate.)
Thare are some couples where I'm equally likely to say the names in either order, but most of the time I think a particular ordering becomes part of the storage record, so even if "Bob and Mike" and "Mike and Bob" work equally well, I'll end up settling on one.
In thinking about it, the name with the smaller number of stresses -- which might not have the smaller number of syllables -- goes first.
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Date: 2004-10-15 08:26 am (UTC)Thare are some couples where I'm equally likely to say the names in either order, but most of the time I think a particular ordering becomes part of the storage record, so even if "Bob and Mike" and "Mike and Bob" work equally well, I'll end up settling on one.
In thinking about it, the name with the smaller number of stresses -- which might not have the smaller number of syllables -- goes first.