Re: At peace with Debian (was: This is the last war...)
On Mon, 15 Jul 2002 09:34:56 +0200, Ivo Wever wrote:
>Gary Turner wrote:
>
>> I will applaud the introduction of "Ms," to the written language, since in
>> the South, at least, the oral honorific of "Miz" has long solved the
>> question of the marital state of the lady you're addressing.
>>
>I absolutely do not understand the need to address someone with their
>correct marital status. I don't behave differently towards an unmarried
>woman than I do towards a married woman, so why on earth should I do so
>in writing?
Precisely the point. In English, the honorific "Miss" has denoted an
unmarried woman, while "Mrs." (an abbreviation of Mistress) indicated a
married woman. Thus the southern (U.S.) oral tradition of addressing a
lady as "Miz Whoever" averted the chance of a social error. Until the
feminist movement sponsored "Ms," there was no written equivalent.
--
gt
It ain't so much what you don't know that gets you in trouble---
it's what you do know that ain't so.--unk
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