3 ms·

I've never heard the title Ms used in America much at all, especially not compared to use I've heard in several Commonwealth countries. It sticks out at me as b

I've never heard the title Ms used in America much at all, especially not compared to use I've heard in several Commonwealth countries. It sticks out at me as being unusual in this thread. But then, even within the US you have big linguistic variations. In Silicon Valley you'll almost never hear anyone addressed as "Ma'am" or "Sir" as that seems too formal, but in the South many people use such titles even in more casual settings with anyone who is their superior or a relative stranger. Most people I know (which is mainly people from Western states) would refer to her as Marissa Mayer, and the same with any other well-known executive (e.g. Elon Musk, Richard Branson, Sheryl Sandberg, Mark Zuckerberg, etc.) How would you expect her to be named in conversation based on where you're from?

thiht 10y ago
On Hacker News specifically, "Zuckerberg" seems to be more frequently used than the full "Mark Zuckerberg". And quite a few Hackers seem to be on a first name basis with Elon and Linus.
- PlaceFan 10y ago
  > "Zuckerberg" seems to be more frequently used than the full "Mark Zuckerberg". Eh, I'm not sure I would agree with that. > And quite a few Hackers seem to be on a first name basis with Elon and Linus. They have fairly unique names. It's extremely unlikely that "Elon" and "Linus" would refer to anyone other than Musk and Torvalds in the context of HN discussions. Definitely not the case for names like "Mark", "Bill", or "Steve".