CULTURAL AWARENESS.- Mr., Mrs. or Miss?

 The use of titles such as Mr. (pronounced /ˈmɪstə/) , Mrs. (pronounced /ˈmɪsɪz/ ) and Miss (pronounced /mɪs/) has experienced some changes over the centuries.   These are contracted forms of the words master and mistress, which were originally titles of courtesy, but by the mid-1600's, these abbreviated foms and their current ponunciation became socially accepted titles.  During the ninteenth centrury, the word Mrs. began to be used to refer to a married woman, and Miss to a single woman.

In English-speaking cultures, women traditionally begin to use their husband's last name when they get married.  However, these days, not all women follow this tradition - in some areas of work they prefer to keep their single names.  In these cases the word Mrs. has to be replaced by the word Ms. (the ponunciation is /məz/) since the social title Mrs. refers only to a married woman using her husband's last name.  The term Ms. is also very useful when wirting if we don't know the marital status of the woman we are addressing.

The word Ms. seems to be an abbreviation or blend of both Miss and Mrs. and was first used by Mario Pei in The story of Language, written in 1949.  However, be careful because not all women use or prefer this title... so, use it to be on the safe side, but take note if someone corrects you!

• What's the customary use of titles in your country?
• What are the advantages of this traditional practice in English-speaking countries?
• What are the disadvantages?
• Find out about the use of titles in two other countries abroad.

Source:  "English for Secretaries and Administrative Personnel" Ed. McGrawHill