4 ms·
Well, an unmarried woman is "supposed to be" (if we are going to care about these ridiculously sexist honorifics) "Ms" (and the software specifically did work i
by saurik 6y ago
Well, an unmarried woman is "supposed to be" (if we are going to care about these ridiculously sexist honorifics) "Ms" (and the software specifically did work if this was used).
- dragonwriter 6y agoMs. is actually the title that was promoted as a less-sexist alternative to Miss/Mrs. which, like Mr., does not depend on marital status. Miss is the one specific to unmarried women.
- kjakm 6y agoI believe Ms. is also used in cases where you are unsure of marital status and don't want to 'offend' by assuming either Miss or Mrs.
- rectang 6y agoEven if you guess the marital status "right", you will still offend many. Why should women be defined according to marital status, especially when men are not?
- kjakm 6y agoUnmarried men occasionally get the title 'Master' although I've only come across that in more formal situations. I also never said we should or shouldn't use the terms. I don't have an opinion on that and it's not a debate or argument I'm going to waste my time on. I was simply explaining how they are conventionally used. This kind of thing was taught in schools as recently as 20 years ago as part of explanations on how to write and format letters.
- chromatin 6y agoIIRC the title Master is for boys 12 and under.
- kjakm 6y agoInteresting! I've come across it in so few places in my life (and not recently) so I wasn't aware. Edit: It seems using it until the age of 12 is a convention in the US. Using it until 18 is the convention in the UK. Another argument for why software shouldn't make decisions using terms that can mean different things to different people :)
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- goatcode 6y ago>Mr. not depending on marital status Not anymore, that is. It used to be an abbreviation for two appellations, one of which was associated with an unmarried gentleman. It's rarely used outside of the British Commonwealth, anymore. Except on Fresh Prince, of course.
- dragonwriter 6y agoI suppose the other appellation you are referring to is “Master”, but I understood its standard abbreviation to be M., not Mr., and it to be conventionally used for boys too young to be addressed as Mister (and before that, it was the term from which Mister was derived, and, before that, a title of guild rank), not a general title of unmarried (gentle- or otherwise) men.
- goatcode 6y agoNope, it's definitely Mr., which possibly explains why "Master" practically disappeared. And while it may have been used to address boys, it could be comparable to Mme and Mlle in French. An older but still unmarried woman would be addressed as madame, but the marriage distinction still exists otherwise. "Master Bruce (Wayne)" was definitely not a boy, as an example in (something like) literature.
- Cd00d 6y agoI actually thought Ms. was not promoted as less-sexist, but as a way to handle divorcees, and eventually merged to be a marital status-independent title. I see now that I was wrong [0]. I got this impression from my father. When I was little I would help stamp and address sales mailers he would send out, and he always used Ms. When I asked him, he said start with Ms. and let them correct you if they want something different. But, some divorced women get angry at being referred to as Mrs. [0] https://www.grammarly.com/blog/ms-mrs-miss-difference/ https://www.grammarly.com/blog/ms-mrs-miss-difference/
- travem 6y agoMiss is also used for unmarried women as well in many places. It’s even in the title of events like Miss World for example