Ms vs Mrs

[ostap77]

If you want to address to a lady and you say "Ms". Is it because you don't know wether a woman is married or not? Or It's just because you are being correct because you don't know if she lives in a common law marriage or not?

 

[emsr2d2]

If you want to address to a lady and you say "Ms". Is it because you don't know wether a woman is married or not? Or It's just because you are being correct because you don't know if she lives in a common law marriage or not?

There have been several threads on this forum regarding the use of Ms, Miss or Mrs.

If you know for a fact that someone is not married, then the only word you would not use is Mrs.

If you don't know her marital status, then you can use Ms.

If you know for a fact that she is not married, then you can use Miss.

A common-law marriage (in the UK at least) does not generally lead to the use of Mrs, though some women might choose to change their surname to that of their husband, and use "Mrs" but it's personal choice.

 

[ostap77]

There have been several threads on this forum regarding the use of Ms, Miss or Mrs.

If you know for a fact that someone is not married, then the only word you would not use is Mrs.

If you don't know her marital status, then you can use Ms.

If you know for a fact that she is not married, then you can use Miss.

A common-law marriage (in the UK at least) does not generally lead to the use of Mrs, though some women might choose to change their surname to that of their husband, and use "Mrs" but it's personal choice.

:up:

 

[SoothingDave]

The idea of the feminists who invented "Ms" is that you use it for all women and then you don't have to try to figure out if someone is married or not when you are addressing them.

 

[emsr2d2]

The idea of the feminists who invented "Ms" is that you use it for all women and then you don't have to try to figure out if someone is married or not when you are addressing them.

Feminists or otherwise, I like it. Personally, I don't see why it should be anyone else's business if a woman is married or not!

But for the purposes of this exercise, it's true that if you address all women as "Ms" there are probably few that you would annoy, other than those who particularly want to be addressed as "Mrs" and those who actively dislike the term "Ms".

 

[Tdol]

I prefer it too as I don't have to think about forms to use.

 

[Tullia]

I prefer it nowadays: I don't think marriage (or lack of it) should reflect on my social "status". As my sister said to her husband, when he picks a title other than "Mr" for people to use now he's married, she'll start using Mrs instead of Ms.

Personally I stick to "Miss" for under 18s, and "Ms" from that point on, just as I do with "Master" and "Mr" - although I think "Master" is dropping out of common usage.