Is it normal i use the term ms rather than mrs or miss?

I mean it's just a pain to remember whether the woman is married or not. I'm already bad at just remembering names.

I started this when I got to secondary school, because we always had to write our teacher's names and I could never remember if they were a Mrs or a Miss.

I've used it since, for instance if I have to write a formal letter or something.

Reason I posted this now is because suddenly someone got really offended by it for some reason, is it offensive?

Is this normal? Or does everyone else just remember and I'm just a lazy ass/terrible at remembering things?

Voting Results
81% Normal
Based on 36 votes (29 yes)
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Comments ( 11 )
  • dappled

    I can understand people being irate. Society still places a lot of stock on whether someone gets married or not. If you call someone "Ms" they may see it as either detracting from their marital status (if they're a "Mrs") or suggesting they go with "Ms" because they are a "Miss" who people think will never become a "Mrs".

    Either way, you can't win. Not until we stop defining women's titles by whether they got married or not. I'd make it "Ms" for everyone.

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    • bigtoy

      If I'm not mistaken, the term Ms. comes from mistress which was usually used to denote an unmarried woman of a certain age who would have worked as a nanny or tutor and often provided extra services to the man of the house. Hence the negative connotation for the term mistress.

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      • dappled

        Hmm, I didn't know that. In my head it was always a term appropriated by a Miss to say she deserves more respect. It's an interesting one!

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  • Chillpill

    I agree that Ms should be used universally. After all for men there's only Mr. Why should we make a distinction based on marital status for women but not for men? Seems very outdated to me.

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  • Avant-Garde

    I never thought about it that way. I think I usually go with Ms. It's certainly more easy to remember. I can't believe some actually got mad at you for this, but some people are touchy about their relationship status/titles. You're not a jackass for doing this.

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  • Pika-girl

    Isn't Ms short for Miss? But yes! I do that too.

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  • sassafrassi

    Maybe she has MS. It's a long shot but if you know her personally maybe she thought you knew and did it as a joke.

    It's most likely what Dappled said though. People just be angry!

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  • Captain_Kegstand

    Women are confusing! I see no problem with universally using the term Ms. but you never know what is going to press peoples buttons!

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  • thinkingaboutit

    i thought Ms. and Miss were synonymous

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    • lc1988

      I thought so too!

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    • shuggy-chan

      miss is no married, mrs is married, and ms is either or

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