Ms.
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Ms (UK) or Ms. (USA) (pronounced /mɪz/ or /məz/[1]) is an English honorific used with the last name or full name of a woman. As with Mrs. and Miss, Ms. is a contraction of the honorific "Mistress", which is the feminine of "Mister" or "Master". In the U.S., Ms. is the default form of address for women, regardless of marital status. [2]
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[edit] Etymology
Some claim that "Ms." has been used sporadically as early as the 1700s as an abbreviation for the then formal title "Mistress" which was used for women of all marital statuses.[3] One putative example is the tombstone of Sarah Spooner, who died in 1767 in Plymouth, Massachusetts. In his book Grammar and Gender, Dennis Baron writes that what appears on Spooner's headstone "is certainly an abbreviation of Miss or Mistress, and not an example of colonial language reform or a slip of the chisel, as some have suggested."[4]
The earliest known proposal for the use of "Ms." as a title regardless of marital status appeared in the The Republican of Springfield, Massachusetts on November 10, 1901:
There is a void in the English language which, with some diffidence, we undertake to fill. Every one has been put in an embarrassing position by ignorance of the status of some woman. To call a maiden Mrs is only a shade worse than to insult a matron with the inferior title Miss. Yet it is not always easy to know the facts... Now, clearly, what is needed is a more comprehensive term which does homage to the sex without expressing any views as to their domestic situation, and what could be simpler or more logical than the retention of what the two doubtful terms have in common. The abbreviation "Ms" is simple, it is easy to write, and the person concerned can translate it properly according to circumstances. For oral use it might be rendered as "Mizz," which would be a close parallel to the practice long universal in many bucolic regions, where a slurred Mis' does duty for Miss and Mrs alike.[5]
The term was revived when it was "suggested as a convenience to writers of business letters by such publications as the Bulletin of the American Business Writing Association (1951) and The Simplified Letter, issued by the National Office Management Association (1952)."[6] "Mistress", like Mister, did not originally bear reference to marital status. This changed as the contractions "Miss" and "Mrs." came into use, beginning in the 17th century.[7][8] The pronunciation mizz as an abbreviation of Mistress has long been colloquial in the American South and other areas for women regardless of marital status.
The modern use of Ms. in preference to the traditional appellations was conceived by Sheila Michaels in 1961, upon seeing what might have been a typographical error on a copy of News & Letters.[9] Address-o-graph plates were difficult to repair, and small, poor groups would not waste resources to correct minor mistakes. Michaels' roommate, Mary Hamilton (Congress of Racial Equality's first female Field Secretary in the South), had spoken to the group in Detroit and been mailed a copy of their newsletter. Michaels "was looking for a title for a woman who did not 'belong' to a man."[10] She knew the separation of Miss and Mrs. had been recent, but one could not suggest that women call themselves Mistress with its louche connotations. Her efforts to promote use of a new honorific were ignored in the Civil Rights era, and seven years later in the nascent Women's Movement. Around 1971, in a lull during a WBAI-radio interview with The Feminists group, Michaels suggested the use of Ms. (having chosen a pronunciation current for both in Missouri, her home). A friend of Gloria Steinem heard the interview and suggested it as a title for her new magazine, Ms.
The usage of Ms. was championed as non-sexist language beginning in the 1970s when women entered the white-collar workforce in large numbers. At that time, many women adopted Ms. to show solidarity with the feminist movement as well as to influence the attitudes of their male and female colleagues.[citation needed]
[edit] Usage
[edit] American
The American Heritage Book of English Usage states that: "Using Ms. obviates the need for the guesswork involved in figuring out whether to address someone as Mrs. or Miss: you can’t go wrong with Ms. Whether the woman you are addressing is married or unmarried, has changed her name or not, Ms. is always correct."[11]
In business, "Ms." is the standard default title for women until or unless an individual makes another preference known, and this default is also becoming more common socially. The default use of Ms. is also championed by a number of etiquette writers, including Judith Martin (a.k.a. "Miss Manners").[12]
In February 1972, the Government Printing Office approved using "Ms." in official government documents.[13]
Several public opponents of "non-sexist language," such as William Safire, were finally convinced that Ms. had earned a place in English by the case of U.S. Congresswoman Geraldine A. Ferraro. Ferraro, a United States vice-presidential candidate in 1984, was a married woman who went by her birth surname rather than her husband's surname (Zaccaro). Safire pointed out that it would be equally incorrect to call her "Miss Ferraro" or "Mrs. Ferraro" — or to confuse the reader by calling her "Mrs. Zaccaro."[14]
[edit] British
The Times (UK) states in its style guide that: "Ms is nowadays fully acceptable when a woman wants to be called thus, or when it is not known for certain if she is Mrs or Miss"[15] although many British women are offended by its impersonal nature and perceived diminution of marital status especially when used randomly[citation needed].
The Guardian (UK) states in its style guide that: "We use whichever the woman in question prefers: with most women in public life (Ms Booth, Mrs May, Miss Widdecombe) that preference is well known; if you don't know, try to find out; if that proves impossible, use Ms."[16]
Most women in the UK style themselves either "Miss" or "Mrs."[citation needed] However, in some circles the appellation Ms. is now standard, for instance in business — and where one may not know or find relevant the marital status of the woman so addressed. Ms can also be used if the woman in question is divorced and reverts to her maiden name. Additionally, she may have changed her name by deed poll and uses Ms because it is neither a married nor a maiden name.
[edit] Plurals
Either Mss. or Mses. may be used as the modern English plural of Ms. Alternatively, if using the traditional French plurals ("Messieurs" for Mr., and "Mesdemoiselles" for Miss) one may use "Mesdames," which is also the plural for "Mrs."
In editorial work Mss. can be confusing, however, since it is also the abbreviation for "manuscripts (by)".
[edit] Notes
- ^ Oxford English Dictionary
- ^ http://www.emilypost.com/everyday/forms_of_address.htm Emily Post's Guide to Addressing Correspondence.
- ^ Martin, Judith. Miss Manners' Guide for the Turn of the Millennium, p.10. Simon & Schuster, New York, New York. ISBN 0-671-72228-X.
- ^ Baron, Dennis (1987). Grammar and Gender. Yale University Press. p. 167. ISBN 978-0300038835.
- ^ Zimmer, Ben (2009-06-23). "Hunting the Elusive First 'Ms.'". Word Routes. The Visual Thesaurus. http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/wordroutes/1895/. Retrieved on 2009-06-23.
- ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language
- ^ Spender, Dale. Man-Made Language.
- ^ Stannard, Una. Mrs Man.
- ^ http://www.lib.usm.edu/~spcol/crda/oh/michaels.htm "An Oral History with Sheila (Kessler) Shiki-y-Michaels", Center for Oral History and Cultural Heritage (5 July 1999).
- ^ "Call Me Ms" The Guardian (accessed August 20, 2007)
- ^ http://www.bartleby.com/64/C005/025.html, The American Heritage Book of English Usage (31 October 2007)
- ^ http://lifestyle.msn.com/relationships/articlepage.aspx?cp-documentid=16911457
- ^ Frum, David (2000). How We Got Here: The '70s. New York, New York: Basic Books. p. 246. ISBN 0465041957.
- ^ Safire, William. "On Language: Goodbye Sex, Hello Gender", The New York Times, August 5, 1984, Section 6 p. 8.
- ^ http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/tools_and_services/specials/style_guide/article986718.ece The Times Online Style Guide (31 October 2007)
- ^ http://www.guardian.co.uk/styleguide/page/0,,184829,00.html The Guardian Style Guide (31 October 2007)
[edit] External links
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