Heather - CP - Critical Incident

I asked Xin if she had ever come across the term 'critical incident' before and she said no, so I explained it to her and then she basically asked if this was something I had to do for class. She's one smart cookie. I answered in the affirmative and the following is what she chose as her critical incident to share.

Background: Xin has become quite familiar with my life and and people in it over the last few weeks. As we now live together we interact a lot more and are around each most of the time. I was on the phone with a friend she's met via phone conversation. He was asking what her name really is because she likes to introduce herself as Cecilia and use that as her name on FB rather than her given name. As that issue was clarified she decided to ask him if his name was his first name or not. When the reply was negative she asked why he used his middle name instead of his first and his respone was, "Because to use my first name means death." Or something very similar so that Xin understood what he said to to mean that his first name means death. She was very taken aback by this, of course! I asked her what she thought he meant and that's what she told me so I helped her to understand that wasn't the meaning he was trying to convey, but that he meant using his first name means death for the person who used it. Which is a crock because his mom calls him by his first name and she's still around. The misunderstanding here consists of analogy use, talking over a cell phone and a friend who, though a native English speaker, is not a very clear communicator. Once she understood what he was really saying she understood the mistake on her end and all is well. ^_^