Ampersand

[magid]

Some couples are always X & Y. Other couples are always Y & X. And some are ambidextrous, as it were. I keep wondering why that is. Who you know first? Who you know better? (Who you're related to?) Shorter name (in syllables) first? Is it partly situational? The one with a title first? Or just an elusively-defined "it sounds better that way"? (For bi-gender couples: Always man first? Always woman first?)

Comments

[treacle-well.livejournal.com]

For me I think it's usually either who I knew first or cadence. Sometimes it's who I'm speaking to (perhaps based on who they know better) about X & Y. I'd like to claim it's alphabetical, because that amuses me, but it's just not true.

[magid.livejournal.com]

who I'm speaking to (perhaps based on who they know better)
I can see that, though it may be tricky to distinguish at times.

Oh, and alphabetical would be fun. (If there were a couple from a non-Roman alphabet, does it go by their transliterated names, or alphabetized in their original language? (Hm. Chinese is words, rather than letters; I wonder if they have a way to alphabetize?))