Re: You have a word for it?

Padraic Brown wrote:


>Am 27.01.02, Fabian yscrifef:
>
>> > > >Yehy is the masculine counterpart of Miss -- the title for an
>> > > >unmarried man.
>
>> > > We NEEEEEED this word in English.  Honestly.
>
>> > I disagree.  I think we need to ditch the distinction between married
>> > woman and unmarried woman.
>>
>> Back about 150 years ago, the common word for this was 'master', and
>> exactl;y equivalent to 'miss'.
>
>Mister is just a weakened form of Master; as Missus is a
>weakened form of Mistress. I use Miss and Mister regardless.
>
>Master was also in fairly common use much more recently. When
>I was little, older relatives addressed cards and such with
>"Master". I've never used it for anyone.
Tristan's "150 years ago" prompted me to think, ah yes, when I was a wee
one.
Nice to see someone else in the same category.  :-)

I think Ms. for adult women of unknown marital status is quite useful.  I
don't feel that Mr. implies a married man; it's also true that we shouldn't
be concerned about it in either case, but..... Obviously, a language needs
some polite way to address strangers.

In Indonesia, where "married" is almost a default status, any unknown man is
called Bapak, less formal pak 'father'; any unknown woman Ibu or bu
'mother', and that can be used even if you find out the lady is unmarried.

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