Why do so many people think Ms means divorced?

I always put Ms, on the grounds that it doesn't give much personal stuff away (good).

at "not married but would like to be". Because obviously a woman's title must say SOMETHING about her marital state or where would we be?

I might start telling people it means something completely different. That I'm a vestal virgin, or that it means I've slept with a man named Dave, or that I only wear black underwear.

I got married very young and was very proud to be a Mrs, I wanted to be married a couple of months earlier so I'd get my A Levels in my married name but dh was having none of it.

I'm still happily married and most places I am still a Mrs but I have started sometimes using Ms because I have seen discussion about it being missing from some forms and I want dd to have the chance to use it. It feels important to get it into common parlance so no-one thinks twice about any woman using it.

I was asked for my title yesterday, and said "Ms"

The young man seemed confused "how do you spell that?"

Then he said "but I thought you said you were married, does Ms mean that you are not married but would like to be?"

it made me realise that the use of Ms must be rare in this city, and that it probably marks me out as a feminist

and I am proud to be one, but it does make me wonder what would be the most sensible thing to put on job applications?

I'm with usual suspect on this. I've never come across this before. I had no idea that some people thought it meant you were divorced. I know there are people who think it means you have particular views (ranging from equal pay to proper feminists can't shave their armpits) but I never knew about the divorce thing. what a sheltered life I lead

I'm a Ms, because I'm married but have kept my maiden (Ha) name. So I can't be Mrs maiden name as that's my mum, and I can't be Miss maiden name as I'm married. Wherever possible I try not to use any title, just my name as thats who I am!

it really does when its said like that, and us women have had it for centuries! never thought of myself as a feminist but that thoughts annoyed me now..

yeah that sounds about right, superjobee. Imagine calling a man Single Davis or Married Kovac and it sounds pretty ridiculous (and unnecessarily TMI) but that's what Miss and Mrs do for women.

i always thought ms was a divorcee term but had it explained to me by a crazy nice lady who says that basically men are mister whether single/divorced/married or widowed, whereas us woman are presumed miss before marriage, mrs whilst married and ms after divorce/being widowed but when the suffragettes were fighting for the vote etc those same woman fought for us to have our own 'mister' title and eventually ms came about so basically - single married widowed divorced - all woman can use the title ms.

she may have been wrong but i stick with this explanation whenever it comes up in conversation :)

I used to be round there, Pendeen, and I called myself Ms at the time (and still do :)).

And the police thinks it means divorced, which is why if you fill in your CRB as Ms, but don't put in a "former name" then they return it to you querying it. Because obviously you've forgotten your previous MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE.

I thought people assumed a 'Ms' was a cats bum mouth feminist with hairy pits and knitted sandals and a 'Women need men like a fish needs a bicycle' T-shirt.

I'm a Ms and I certainly hope people think that about me.

My dad assumed I'd adopted it because I'm a single parent I have NO idea where he got that idea from...

Do people really think that?

I've never come across anyone who thinks it means you are divorced

It means its none of your buisness if I'm married or not surely

OP - maybe it's used more often where you live.

I don't know of anyone round here who calls themself "Ms"

I have never had any problem with being a "Miss."

What's a bikini car wash??

I honestly don't know. Pretty much all the divorced women I know still use their married name (if they had one).

I've been a my-marital-status-is-none-of-your-business Ms ever since before I even met DH and I don't think I've ever had any strange reactions.

In my case it may have helped that Ms NADE was in her early twenties when she first pointed out to professional contacts that Ms it actually was. Maybe they all assumed I was too young to have managed to catch a guy, marry him, piss him off and get a divorce since coming of age.

I'm actually intrigued to find that people would have a negative reaction to it. I grew up in a German speaking environment and witnessed during my childhood how "Fraeulein" ("Miss") went from being a pretty normal if somewhat old fashioned form of address to downright insulting.

When I went to primary school our (male) teacher taught us to say it was rude to call any woman "Miss" if we heard it.

My mother still won't have it that 'Ms' doesn't necessarily divorced Her only concession is people who are 'living in sin' sometimes use it She's not even that old!!

Also, clearly, if you are the sort of ranting harridan who doesn't want to be a Mrs, your hubby will soon see the error of his ways and take up with a Proper Woman.

Oddly enough, most of us who have a view on bikini car washes rather assume that equal pay is a Good Thing, startail. Sounds as if you're tilting at straw feminists rather.

When I was growing up the only people I knew who used Ms were divorced it's only been more recently I've discovered its not the case. Maybe there are more people who have made the discovery.
Even when I thought it meant divorced I never though of it as a negative thing though more a thank fuck I dont need to 'attach' myself to him anymore

Never occurred to me not to use Ms either, not since I was old enough to 'need' a title for filling in forms etc. To me Miss sounded like a little girl, and Mrs belonged to my mother's generation. Wouldn't have identified myself as a feminist at the time either.

I find it odd too, OP.

It never really occurred to me not to use Ms - like a lot of people, I only realized it was an issue after I got married and suddenly found myself surrounded by people who were deeply offended by me using a title I thought was the default for most women.

I always thought it meant you were a high flying career woman with a distinct feminist streak! It does make sense of course, I just don't like the sound of "mus" so always use Mrs. (plus I am not much of a feminist)

Well if it's just ignorant remarks by one ignoramus you should probably shrug and put it down to part of life's rich tapestry. But it's more than that, it seems.