No Miss, no Ms... just Mrs

[guinnessgirl]

Hi all. First op on this board so please be gentle!

I was reading this blog post recently, and it really got me thinking. vagendamagazine.com/2014/09/why-you-shouldnt-bother-calling-yourself-ms/

I disagree with the idea at the end about us all being Mr, but the idea of all adult women being Mrs really appeals to me. As the writer says, for good or bad it's the highest status title of the three that we currently use, and it's got a direct parallel in Mr.

What do you think? And do you think there's any real hope of change if enough women adopted it?

I think I agree OP - it certainly seems to work well in Germany, where all adult women are Frau, and for men in the UK, where all adult men are Mr rather than Master. I ordered my last bank card with Mrs MyName MySurname (not the same as DH's surname).

I don't think many 17yo lads would like being addressed as 'Master'. It only seems to be used for small boys.

Don't like Ms

Don't care if Mrs goes

Can we have Madam, or Marm

Or maybe not

Mistress!!!!!!

I know under-18 young women who don't want to be Miss. Ms. can be used for all ages.

Those of you with non-small DDs - could I ask what they prefer to use at what age please? (mine is 15 and the issue of titles hasn't come up yet but may soon)

My dd is 18 and is always Ms. Always has been.

Perpetual I'm afraid that when it actually happens, you will end up muttering "Ms" in a small voice as you're scared of sounding wanky if you say "I'm a fucking DOCTOR, bitches."

I do like looking at my bank card though

I'd hate to be forced to be "Mrs" the assumption that it means married will not dissappear in my lifetime, probably longer, regardless of any decisions made by anyone. I've been Ms since I was 18 regardless of marital status. I've never had it questioned, pronounced stupidly or had anyone make assumptions about my marital status.

I like the idea of Madam. Has both connotations of superiority and nortiness.

I was filling in a photo pass for a child yesterday when this came up with the clerk, after having looked at me a bit funny when I said the adult pass was for a Ms. Xyz (in response to miss or mrs?) when we filled the the child pass she said the child was obviously miss, no I replied she's ms too.
Fortunately I'm the sort of pig headed individual that smiles pleasantly during these encounters and hopes pointlessly the the other person learnt something.

Master and mister are both shortened to mr. So IMO it's ms for both.

I don't want to be a mrs, I associate it with a possenional phrase.

I don't really like Master for small boys. No way am I calling my ds my master! (that is where it comes from).

I do like the idea of us all being Mrs. But I think it wouldn't work, because we've already had Ms introduced. Whereas in Germany/France, there was no confusion over it, so far as I know.

I noticed on a thread the other day, a lot of people felt that if you kept your maiden name, you should not be allowed to call yourself Mrs!

The Dr/Ms issue reminds me of the old Northern Irish joke my dad used to tell. A man walks into town and the first person he meets asks is he Catholic or Protestant. The man replies he's an atheist. 'Ah, yes, but are you a Catholic atheist, or a Protestant atheist?'

I've been asked if I'm a Miss Dr or a Mrs Dr.

Lol at Miss Dr or Mrs Dr!

Titles are funny things, aren't they? I think their only really purpose these days is to enable a polite form of address when it doesn't seem appropriate to use someone's first name. I think using them to denote marital status is anachronistic, but actually using them to denote gender or age also seems a bit unnecessary too. I think I'd prefer a single title that can be used for anyone you wish to show particular respect for (Comrade? ).

All the time marriage exists as an option I am happy to be Miss.

Comrade is good. I like 'Sister'. We should definitely use that more. Nuns have all the fun.

Or bring it bang up to date - Sista?

I commend the Quaker practice. First names or, to be more formal, both names. No titles.

I could definitely go for Sista.

scone - yes, it's nice, that.

Sister Rufus

Comrade Rufus

Madam Rufus

Mistress Rufus

Just trying some out for size

O great and exalted Rufus (not sure that will fit on my bank card )

Maybe we need a total shake-up in honorifics. How about adopting the Japanese, Rufus-san?

Or just use Ms, ffs. What's so difficult about that?

It used to be the case that all women working in a household of high status were Mrs. So the housekeeper, head cook etc would be Mrs.
In theatre all women used to be (and in only going back to the 90s here) Miss.

I like Ms. This article shows that it has been around for longer than we thought.

www.nytimes.com/2009/10/25/magazine/25FOB-onlanguage-t.html?_r=3&

It makes some interesting points about pronunciation. I live in the Southern US, where Mrs has been pronounced for generations by many as Mizz, exactly the same as Ms. I really don't understand people saying it's hard to pronounce or they don't like the sound unless they feel the same about all syllables that end in a Z sound.