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Re: punctuated abbreviations // was english spelling reform

From:Muke Tever <mktvr@...>
Date:Friday, October 18, 2002, 20:19
From: "Tim May" <butsuri@...>
> It doesn't mean either. The point behind "Ms" is that with only the > terms "Mrs" and "Miss", it's impossible to refer to a woman by means > of an honorific without specifying her marital status. This was felt > to be discriminatory, and "Ms" (pronounced, in my experience, /mIz/ or > /mz/) was introduced as a direct counterpart of the male "Mr". It was > coined in 1949, but didn't become popular until the '70s.
But I think (in my limited experience) that "Ms" and "Miss" have merged, /mIz/ everywhere, with /mIs/ in direct address (I don't think one could hear [Iks'kjuwz mij mIz]...I could be wrong). I think we need "Msr" or "Mtr" as a direct counterpart of the female "Mrs". Just for fairness sake. *Muke! -- http://www.frath.net/

Replies

John Cowan <jcowan@...>
Tim May <butsuri@...>