Why I don't like Ms

As in Ms Alice Bachini. (By the way, Alice, if you are reading, this has nothing to do with you directly. I don't know which title you prefer. This came from Liberty Log.)

Ms (in preference to Miss or Mrs) grew to prominence in the 1980s. The argument was that... actually I can't remember what the argument was. Come to think of it I think it was that Miss or Mrs revealed a woman's maritial status. Many women (and I agree with them) did not wish to be judged by their marital status but on their merits. Therefore, they needed a new title. Shame that they couldn't have come up with a better one but never mind.

Anyway, towards the end of the 1980s the Economist magazine got itself into trouble when it reported on the wife of the then Spanish Prime Minister, Felipe Gonzalez. It referred to her as Miss Sanchez (actually, I can't remember her real name but it illustrates the point). Queue much gnashing of feminist teeth.

The Economist made a spirited defence. It pointed out that the titles Miss and Mrs do not indicate marital status. They merely indicate whether the bearer is using her maiden or marital name. Thus the Iron Lady would have been entirely within her rights to have called herself Miss Roberts. They also pointed out that in Spain (of all places) married women keep their maiden names.

There is something rather ironic about all this. Because I am not aware of a single case of a woman using Ms with her married name. In other words Ms now means exactly the same as what Miss really means. It's just that Miss sounds better.